The Beautiful Mind of Katherine Pryde: Volume Two
by Kinetically Charmed
Summary: Story told through Kitty's online diary, an interesting peek into her weird mind. Entry number eleven: Chad; He's nice but forgettable. He's Matt Damon's disguise in Oceans 11. Under his yearbook photo it said "photo unavailable". I'm sure Rogue will forget about him in a few weeks...
1. Labor part two

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number one:**

We need to face the facts here folks; Rogue sucks at blogging. She just does. I love the girl to death, and she's super awesome at other things, like being bitchy, and having boobs, but blogging? It isn't her bag. And that's okay.

Except for when she leaves you guys dangling on a cliffhanger like Jean's water breaking, just because she has an Anthropology diorama that she has to finish before the end of the week, I cannot sit idly by.

Her priorities are a little messed up, but I try not to hold it against her.

Anyways, when we left off, Jean's water broke and Remy moved his stupid bike so we could all drive off to the hospital.

Hindsight? I'm not entirely sure why we all felt the need to go with Scott and Jean to the hospital. I guess it could be because we'd all sat through her contracting for so long that we kind of felt like we were in it for the long haul.

What can I say, crime has been slow around Bayville lately. We needed some excitement.

When we arrived at the hospital we were all pretty stoked to hear that Jean was 7 cm dilated. I mean, those of us who understood what that meant, were stoked. Ray was disappointed because he thought she had to dilate to 10_ inches, _ and Jamie didn't understand what part exactly had to dilate. I'm not sure if he expected her to poop the baby out or what... seriously, we need to take a closer look at our education system.

Anyways, Jean was 7 cm dilated. And Bobby, who was _Googling_ from his iPhone, informed us all that things would likely go pretty fast. As it turns out, Bobby's research was wrong. Really really wrong.

We were on hour three by the time this ugly realization was brought to our attention, when Scott came into the waiting room looking like he'd just ran the New York City marathon, just to announce that Jean was _still_ 7 cm dilated.

"Don't let them give her pitocin!" Bobby blurted out, holding his phone up, "I've been watching _The Business of Being Born_ on Netflix. That stuff is poison dude."

Scott, who I imagine was probably staring at Bobby from behind his shades, just as the rest of us were, shook his head, "What?"

"They try to push the pitocin to speed up contractions. But it makes the contractions really bad, which then makes women need an epidural, which then slows the labor down, resulting in an emergency c-section." Bobby nodded to his cellphone, "It's all there."

"She's been in labor for 2 days." Rogue snapped without looking up from her cell phone, "I'm pretty sure if her labor were going any _slower_, it would be going in reverse."

Bobby considered this for a moment before deciding that Rogue had a point. Scott grumbled something under his breath before turning around and heading back through the thick double doors, leaving the rest of us to dwell on this new information.

"This shit is going to take forever." Tabby groaned dramatically, "Why the hell did we all come?!"

She raised a good point.

Alex let out a breath and shook his head with a serious demeanor, "Alright, I need someone's phone."

"Why?" I frowned, "Are you going to call Jean's mom and tell her she doesn't need to hurry?"

"I would not do that," Pete shook his head, "These things can change pretty quickly-"

"What? Hells to the no." Alex scoffed, "I want to look up how to get amniotic fluid out of premium Italian denim." He  
held his hand out to Rogue, expecting her to just hand her cell over to him. She looked up at him and snorted,

"Seriously?"

"Come on!" Alex whined, "I need to get this shizz out!"

I rolled my eyes, "I'm pretty sure you can just toss them in the washing machine."

"Jem. These are dry clean only. Come on." He turned back to Rogue and held his hand out again, "The fabric is very delicate. I need to research it properly."

"Then ask a nurse, and leave me the hell alone." Rogue sneered at him, "I'm watching Adam Levine on YouTube."

Remy, whom we had all thought was sleeping, sprawled out across 6 of the waiting room chairs, uttered a haughty snort, "On mute."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rogue's eyebrow quirked up and she cut her eyes to Remy, "Does the bitchy little peanut gallery have something to say?"

He opened one eye and snapped, "You're watching music videos on mute. It's (effing) weird, Rogue."

"I don't need to_ hear_ anything to enjoy it." She showed him the screen so he could get the full effect of what she was viewing.

"What is the big deal with this (a-hole) anyways?!" Remy snapped, propping himself up on his elbow with a frown, "He's nothing special."

I snorted. Because... come on. I'm not super obsessive like Rogue, but _come on_.

"He's not!" Remy repeated, "He's basically me. Just add mutant eyes, and take away all the tattoos and the band thing."

"Oh yeah, sure." I nodded, "And the fact that he dates models and has lots of money."

"And the fact that he actually contributes to society." Rogue smirked, looking back down at her cell phone. "And the fact that he's actually brave enough to _get_ a tattoo..."

"I'm brave enough." Remy spat back indignantly, "I just don't want to."

"You're afraid of needles." Rogue countered. "The guy who can't even get an earring-"

"Woah!" Remy sat upright with a furious scowl, "I'm not _afraid_ of them, I had a bad experience." He narrowed his eyes dangerously, "And you promised you wouldn't tell anyone."

"It was one flu shot Remy, get the hell over it." Rogue snipped.

"Alright, well this is boring." Alex slapped his knees and stood up, "I'm gunna go find some sexy nurse who can help me polish my pants." He winked.

Super classy Alex.

Remy was about to continue making his needle case, when a nurse in cute pink scrubs burst through the two swinging doors and glanced around the waiting room.

"Is there a Kitty in here?"

My puppy dog ears perked up and I jumped to my feet, "Yes? I'm Kitty."

The nurse gave me a calm smile, in spite of my slightly spastic response, "Mommy is asking for you."

"Jean?" I knit my brow, "For me? Are you sure...?"

She nodded, waiting for my response.

"You don't have to go in there Kitty." Rogue warned, "Jean's probably just a little loopy from all the drugs."

"I'll go." I nodded at the nurse, "I can totally help."

I'm _such_ a help whore.

"You are sure, Katya?" Pete asked in a gentle attempt to get me to really think about what I was agreeing to. He looked back at the nurse and knit his brow, "This will not be censored like on TV."

"I can totally handle it. Please," I scoffed, waving him off as I crossed the waiting room to follow the nurse through the forbidden doors. "How bad could it be?"

Very very stupid thing to say.

Seriously, I wish I could go back in time, and bitch slap myself.

I followed the nurse as she walked briskly down the wide hall, mentally prepping myself the whole way. I cleared my throat and fell in step next to her, "So... do you know why she asked for me?"

Pink scrub nurse shook her head as we neared the delivery room, "No. I assume she just didn't want to be alone." She explained as she came to a stop at the door, where I could clearly hear the sound of Jean screaming, "Her husband passed out when she started pushing."

And the blood drained from my face. Because sure, we make fun of Scott. A lot. He's a weenie, so it's kind of hard not to. But the boy has seen his fair share of gore. I mean, he's our team leader. It's kind of his job to remain strong in the face of disaster and what-not.

If this was too much for him to handle... what the eff was I going to do?!

The nurse pushed the door open and let me walk in first.

The lights were dim, and there was a faint scent of lavender wafting off the scented candle that Jean had insisted on packing, since it was supposed to promote relaxation during labor. But judging from the way she was screaming bloody murder, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it wasn't working.

Her eyes opened the moment she 'sensed' me in the room, and she stopped her groaning to look at me with wild eyes.

"**Get it out!**" She breathed in a voice which can only be described as _demonic._

I blinked at her, unsure of what exactly to do as the nurses went about their work as if Jean_ wasn't_ possessed.

"Jean." I said eventually, "I came... I'm here. You want me to hold your hand?"

"I want you to get it out!" She moaned dropping her head back on the pillow as one of the nurses replaced the cool damp cloth on her forehead with a fresh one. "I want you to reach in there, and phase this thing out of me! **_NOW!_**"

"Jean..." I said reluctantly, carefully stepping further into the room, being sure that the _action zone_ remained out of my line of sight. "You're doing great."

She grabbed me from 5 feet away with her telepathy and hauled me over to her, taking a firm hold on my shirt collar once I was close enough, and yanking me down so I was inches away from her face.

"**_DO IT_**." She demanded, and I swear to God, I saw her eyes turn red.

"I can't do that Jea-"

My words were cut off by her intense moan as another contraction came over her. That was when I noticed the nurses were rushing around pretty fast. Pink scrub nurse had been so calm and collected that I didn't even pay attention to the other nurses. Warming things up, getting tools ready, talking in hushed tones amongst themselves...

"Is everything okay?" I shouted out over Jean to the nurse closest to the action zone.

"She's crowning." The nurse informed me. I know from A Baby Story, that this means the baby's head is coming out. I also learned that if she was pushing, there should be a doctor present. I saw no doctor near the action zone. I saw no doctor anywhere in the room.

"Holy crap, where's the doctor?!" I asked, trying my best to control my panic, which I now realize was kind of pointless since Jean could easily pick up on it.

"On his way." The nurse responded quickly before looking up at Jean, "Breathe through it, mommy. I need you to pant and _not push_."

"Pull her out Kitty! Pull her out!" Jean pleaded.

Part of me wanted to do it. Just to put Jean out of her misery. The other part of me -the rational part- knew that it was not a good idea to go messing with a persons molecular integrity before they were even_ born_.

Also, it was super gross.

"Pant Jean." I encouraged her as calmly as I could, taking her hand for support, "Focus on panting."

She did as she was told and panted her way through the contraction, and once it had passed, she turned her exhausted eyes to me, "I need my iPod."

"Huh?"

"My iPod. It has my birth playlist." Jean pointed towards Scott, whom I hadn't noticed until then, passed out in the rocking chair in the corner of the room. "Scott went to get it from my bag before he passed out like a little (vulgar word for kitten.)"

"I don't really think you-"

"**_I NEED MY iPOD!_**"

I flinched at the sound of Jean's demon voice again, and hurried over to the corner, carefully searching for Jean's lost iPod in her overnight bag.

"I can't find it Jean." I called back to her, "Are you sure you packed it?"

"Yes!" She cried back with a hint of desperation in her voice, "It's there! It has to be! My baby needs to be born while Bon Jovi is playing!"

Really? Bon Jovi, Jean?

Another contraction swelled up causing Jean to momentarily forget about Bon Jovi and try to focus on panting rather than moaning like a wounded cow.

"Ohhh dear..." The nurse said, a lot more calmly than I would have, "We have a head!"

And that was when I made the biggest mistake I have ever made in my entire life. Bigger than the leather pants. Bigger than breaking up with Pete. Bigger than the time I got bangs on a whim.

No. This was way worse.

I turned around.

Facing the action zone, head on. Pun very much not intended.

"Oh GOD!" I cried, physically frozen in place. To the point that I was literally not even able to squeeze my eyes shut out of horror.

The stretching. Oh the stretching...

"No! No! That is NOT okay!" I screamed, hurrying back over to Jean's head, even though the damage had already been done.

There are some things that you just cannot un-see.

Jean let out a growl that would seriously put Logan to shame with the nurses buzzing around the room and me, howling right along with her as she squeezed down on my hand with all her might. The nurse said something about shoulders and then the rest of the baby slid out like an alien shooting out of a flesh cannon, and Jean flopped back down on the pillow, releasing her death grip on my hand.

"Did you want to cut the cord?" The nurse asked after placing the slimy alien baby on Jean's chest. She didn't even wait for me to answer. She put the surgical scissors in my hand, and she pointed at the disgusting blue sausage attached to the alien's stomach.

I closed my eyes and snipped, instantly feeling a wave of nausea rush over my entire body. "Oh Lord." I groaned, "I'm gunna hurl."

And that I did.

I made it to the sink at least, so it's not like I made more work for the nurses.

I walked back down that hallway a different person. A broken woman. An empty shell of what I had once been. I pushed through the swinging doors, looking into the excited eyes of all my friends, so bright and full of life. So innocent. Untainted.

"Well?" Jubilee finally said, bringing me to realize that I'd been standing there staring at them all for a good minute and a half.

"It was..." I shook my head, feeling my eyes glaze over just a little, "Awful..."

"Is everything okay?" Rogue frowned.

"Is Jean alright? The baby?" Alex pressed.

"There was so much blood." I swallowed hard, "Scott passed out. Jean kept yelling _Pull it out of me Kitty! Pull it out! _I couldn't find Bon Jovi. And then the head... was there..." I held my hands out in front of me as if I were holding a head, "They made me cut the cord..." I trailed off and shook my head blankly, "Babies are disgusting."

Pete crossed the room with concern written all over his face, "Katya," He reached out to put a hand on my shoulder and I shrunk away from him before he could make contact.

"Nope." I said flatly, "No touching. No more touching ever. Never ever."

Remy smirked at Pete, "Tough break."

I'm seriously considering becoming a nun. I'll be the worlds first Jewish nun.

Although, I don't look very good in black, so I'm not sure that would work out for me in the long run.


	2. Vampire Dads suck (pun intended)

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number two:  
**

Newborns cry. A lot. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it's true. And if it's not true, then there is definitely something wrong with Jean's kid, because that thing does not shut up.

Ever.

And of course, due to unforeseeable circumstances -Scott bring sent off on a mission a week after his wife gave birth. Nice planning on that one guys- Jean has temporarily moved back into the mansion.

I kind of feel bad that I just referred to a baby as "that thing". They named her Rachel. Personally, I think Beyonce Summers has a nicer ring to it, but whatever.

As I was saying, Jean is back. Which means baby Rachel has been keeping everyone up at night. I mean, she's adorable when she's quiet. She's so tiny and cute that you think it makes up for the fact that she wakes you up 8 times a night. But it doesn't. Because you remember at 5:00 AM that you have to wake up to drive an hour and a half in crappy September weather to the city for school.

I mean, I feel bad for Jean. I really do. Scott, not so much, but Jean... totally. But my sympathy for the girl is pretty much forgotten by noon, when I'm falling asleep in my Intro to Computer Programming class.

Not even like nodding off. I had my head down, and I'm pretty sure I was snoring. My teacher totally called me out on it too, in front of the entire class, which does nothing for my reputation. If everyone thought I was a bimbo who slept her way into Columbia before, they now think I'm a bimbo who is literally sleeping my way through Columbia.

I was sitting alone at a table in one of the many dining areas, trying to stay awake while I picked at my garden salad when I heard,

"I miss the push up bra."

My head snapped up and I blinked at his stupid grin. He pulled the chair out across from me and sat down, casually draping his arm over the back of it.

"I mean, the downgraded version is still alright." He gestured towards my chest, "But it's not the same."

"Remy?" I looked around quickly out of sheer confusion before looking back at him, "What are you doing here?!"

"Thought you'd like some company. Maybe being seen with me might improve your reputation?" He gave me a wide grin and I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"First of all, being seen with you is only going to perpetuate my bad reputation, and you know it."

His grin grew even wider, as if that were even possible.

"And secondly, I haven't seen you in like a week, and then you just show up? Here?! How did you even know where I'd be?!"

"A magician never reveals his secrets, _minette_."

"You are not a magician."

"You only say that because you've never experienced my... slight of hand." He winked.

Seriously Remy. You are a walking cliche.

I let out a tired breath and set my jaw, "Okay. Why are you here?"

He pulled his sunglasses off and tossed them on the table, "I was working a job in the city. It's lunch, and I figured you'd give me free food."

"_Why_ would you think that?"

"You have a meal plan or something, right? I don't know, food stamps or something. They feed you here, don't they?"

I always enjoy making the 'you're an idiot' face, since everyone is always so quick to use it on me. "No." I gave my head a shake before pushing my plate across the table to him out of pity. He eyed the fork for a moment before looking back up at me,

"I gotta use your fork? Your germs are all over it."

"You're perfectly fine with having casual sex with millions of random women, but sharing a fork is gross?" I knit my brow, "You have _really_ weird boundaries."

Remy frowned, because he totally knew I was right, and dug into my lunch without another word about Kitty cooties.

"So, this_ job_ you're doing...?" I began, leaving the obvious question out.

He let out a deep sigh as he ate my salad, "Yes. It's for Jean Luc. And this is when you tell me how stupid I am for going back to working for him, and how horrible of a person he is."

"Oh, I don't think that at all." I shook my head with a half shrug, "I totally understand."

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"No, I do." I folded my hands on the table as I watched him devour my lunch, "He's your dad Remy. It's not exactly _Advanced Psychology_. You_ want _things to be good with your dad. You want to believe that your dad actually wants you around for more than just stupid jobs. Even though you know that's not the case."

Remy slowly frowned at me and slowly shook his head, "That's not true."

"Sure it is. Your dad is a vampire."

This was when Remy gave me the 'you're an idiot' face. Tit for tat I guess.

"You start talking about Twilight, I will definitely stab you with this fork. I'm just warning you, petite."

"Hear me out." I began again, "Your dad is a vampire. People like that suck the life out of everyone around them. They leave you emotionally exhausted, they take and never give. Most people, like Rogue for instance, would put as much distance between themselves and said vampire as humanly possible. But there's something in you that makes you keep holding on to this tiny shred of hope that he'll change." I grabbed a cherry tomato off of Remy's plate and popped it into my mouth, "It's a classic abusive relationship. Chris and Rhianna. I told you, not exactly_ Advanced Psychology._"

Remy's frown grew as he was visibly shocked by the depth of my knowledge. I'm a genius Remy. Remember?

"I'm just in it for the money, Kitty."

"That's bull shit Remy." I rolled my eyes, "You wanna know how I know that? Because my dad is a vampire too. And I want to believe that our relationship is fine, so I ignore the fact that he takes his new family to _Disney_ and that he only really calls me when he needs to complain about my mom or complain about his life... or complain in general..."

"You're really pissed that he didn't take you to _Disney_, aren't you?"

"Seriously. I totally deserve it. I deserve to ride the teacups. I put up with his crap way longer than the new kids, if anyone deserves to ride the teacups, it's me." I snapped. Yeah, okay. I have some minor issues there. I let out a short breath to compose myself, "My point is, I don't think you're a moron at all. In fact, if I was in your situation, I'd probably do the same thing."

Remy ate a forkful of salad and nodded thoughtfully, "Are you comparing me to you?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And that doesn't make me a moron how?"

"Ha."

He grinned smugly to himself and he continued to devour my salad.

"Don't think I haven't forgotten our last conversation, by the way." I pointed a finger at him and narrowed my eyes, "You know, the one where you belittled me in front of everyone in your pissy little mood?"

Remy grumbled under his breath and I'm pretty sure that was his way of apologizing. Yeah, he's a charmer alright...

"And by the way, I totally had a makeover too, Remy. My hot ass jeans may not be ass effective, but they're on dammit." I frowned, "Actually I guess it was more of a make-under. Apparently I have overconfidence issues."

"I hadn't noticed." He commented sarcastically with a mouthful of salad. "Did your makeover work? Do people like you yet?"

"No." I rolled my eyes skyward and sighed dramatically, "People still pretty much avoid me like a leper. Plus I fell asleep in class today, so I'm dealing with that now too."

"Nice one." He smirked, "How about Rogue?"

"What_ about_ Rogue?"

"You know." He shifted in his seat a little bit and shrugged, "How's her makeover... going..."

"No, she does not have a new boyfriend yet." I rolled my eyes. "Is that the real reason you stopped by? I hope you don't expect me to work my magic and get you two back together just because I empathize with you. Because I'm totes still team Rogue. You need to get your shit together. Rogue can't deal with your parental issues, she can barely deal with her own."

Remy rolled his eyes, "_No_." He let out a breath, "That ain't why I'm here. I just... I don't have many people to just hang with anymore. I mean, Felicia and I don't exactly _talk _much." He gave me a dirty grin and wagged his eyebrows, "You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I got it." He's not exactly the king of subtlety. "Wait, who's Felicia? Is that the melon boobs chick you ruined my baby shower for?" I frowned.

"That's the one."

"Well, what about Pete?" I asked, stealing another tomato off Remy's plate.

"He's not my type, _minette_."

I rolled my eyes, "To _talk_ to, genius. I mean, he's been pretty preoccupied with this new art studio, but I'm sure he'd make time for you."

Remy looked up at me and blinked for a moment, "Pete ain't exactly my number one fan right now. The whole Jean Luc thing... He doesn't approve." He shook his head and went back to the salad, "Like he's so (effing) perfect."

"Really? He never told me that." I frowned. I know it's not a huge deal, but honestly, I kind of thought Pete talked to me about everything.

"Well you guys have probably just been pretty busy lately. You know, watching re-runs of Project Runway every Friday night... wearing matching sweaters and finishing each others sentences..." Remy said with his shit-eating grin.

So I gave him a kick in the shin from under the table.

Serves him right.

"Dammit Kitty!" He snapped, "You almost got me in the berries! Jesus... do that again and I'll rip your (effing) foot off!"

"Whatever." I snorted, "If I'd wanted to kick the little general, I wouldn't have missed. Chill out."

While he explained to me why he most certainly could not _chill out, _I noticed my teacher. The one who taught the intro class I'd just dozed off during. And I use the term _teacher_ very loosely since he's actually technically a grad student teaching an intro class for extra credit. Anyways, he was talking to one of his friends, when he looked over in my direction and we made eye contact.

And then he excused himself and started over towards Remy and I.

"Oh crap." I hissed, looking back at Remy and using my hand to block the approaching teacher from view, "My teacher is coming over here."

Remy smirked as he gathered some salad on his fork, "The one who lulled you to sleep during class this morning?"

"Yes." I snapped, peeking discreetly over my hand in hopes that maybe he couldn't see me if I was hidden. Behind my hand.

Remy's dumb smirk morphed into his shit-eating grin once again.

"Go away." I demanded quickly upon recognizing that he was clearly planning to be trouble for me, "Now! Go!"

"No way, I'm eating my salad, minette. _Chill out_." He continued to grin as grad student Instructor Ramsey came to a stop at my table.

"Hey, Kitty, right?" He grinned, looking between me and Remy, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

I forced a polite grin and sat upright, "Nope!"

"Could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure..." I looked at Remy expectantly, waiting for him to leave. "Remy?"

"The more the merrier!" He pulled the chair between us out, and gestured for him to sit down.

I let out a deep breath as he took his seat, and introduced himself to Remy, "You must be Kitty's boyfriend?"

"Woah! Hoho.." I chuckled, sounding a little bit more like Santa than I'd have liked, "No. He's not my boyfriend. No. No no... no. No."

"Not technically." Remy added with that **stupid** grin, "Although we did have some fun with those leather pants, didn't we _minette_?"

I silently stared at him, trying to will his brain to explode with the power of my mind.

My teacher furrowed his brow and cut his eyes back to me, "Do you... know what he just called you?"

"What? No." I lied, because it's always best to just deny knowing the dirty things that Remy is saying in his native tongue. "Why, do you...?"

He brushed his Justin Bieber 'do out of his eyes and cleared his throat, "Nevermind."

I let out a breath and frowned, "Look... Mr. Ramsey-" I began, feeling a little weird that I was calling someone who was likely no more than 4 years older than me_ Mister_. I seriously understand what the older students feel like when they have teachers who are younger than their own kids. "If this is about this morning, I promise it won't happen again. It was a fluke, I swear."

He chuckled and shook his head, "First of all, call me Doug. I tried to get everyone to call me_ Conductor_ Ramsey, but they weren't buying it. So Doug will do."

I blinked, waiting for him to continue as I tried to ignore Remy's wide-eyed look of amusement directed at me.

"Secondly, it's all good, Kitty."

I furrowed my brow, wondering if he'd actually just said "it's all good" because I'm pretty sure that no one has said that since 2004.

"It's all...?"

"Good." Remy supplied, as if I was hard of hearing or something, while he happily went back to his salad.

"I actually wanted to apologize for singling you out in class like that." Doug explained, "But you were snoring. It was kind of hard for me to ignore that, and I didn't want to look bad in front of all those students. You know?"

I nodded, even though I wasn't entirely sure I did know.

"I mean, I get why you were sleeping."

I really don't think he did, but I continued to nod.

"You clearly don't belong in my class."

I stopped nodding and furrowed my brow again, "What's that now?"

"He said you don't belong in his class." Remy supplied again. He turned to Doug with a sympathetic frown and tapped his temple with the prongs of his fork, "She has the attention span of a flea."

Doug's brow pinched as he blinked at Remy before turning back to me,

"You don't belong there. You're far too advanced to be taking an intro class."

Remy let out a breath and muttered something in French as he went back to his salad. Probably because he knows how compliments on my intellect go straight to my head.

They do. I'm not going to deny it.

"It's probably pretty boring for you, I understand that." Doug continued, side eying Remy for a moment before looking back to me, "But _try_ to keep your eyes open... it really reflects poorly on me when I can't keep people awake."

"Advanced?" I shook my head, "You think I'm advanced? Really?" I kicked Remy in the shin with a broad grin, "Did you hear that? I'm advanced!"

All I got was a scowl.

That time I almost did miss his shin, so I kind of deserved it.

"Absolutely!" Doug went on, "I'm not exactly sure why you didn't try to test out so you didn't have to take the class, but since you didn't, I figure I can take credit for your natural smarts. You know, the age old tale:_ Student starts out the year falling asleep during lecture and ends up the top of her class thanks to her super awesome, inspiring teacher_."

I snorted out a laugh, "What, like Robin Williams in _Dead Poets Society_?"

"Or Robin Williams in _Good Will Hunting_." Doug grinned back.

"Robin Williams in _Hook_. That's what you should aim for. He could fly." I countered.

"I could try to just mash all of his movies together and be a cross dressing genie who's running for President."

"I would _definitely_ stay awake to see that." I nodded.

Remy was looking between the two of us with that derisive, 'you're a moron' look, and gave his head a shake. "Wow..."

Doug smiled and pushed himself back from the table, "Alright. So no more nap time during my class, deal? Or at least invest in some _Breathe Right_ strips so you're not snoring."

"I'm a lady. I don't snore, I purr." I explained with a smile.

"Yeah, and I guess that stuff coming out of your mouth wasn't drool, it was a _glow_."

"See? You get it." I grinned back at him.

Doug stood up and gave Remy a nod, "Nice meeting you."

"Yeah sure" Remy mumbled with a mouth full of salad.

He turned to me and pushed his chair in, "See you in class. And feel free to call me Conductor. We may still be able to get it to catch on."

"Just tell everyone that the classroom is like a train. They'll totally buy that crap." I shrugged.

Doug let out a laugh and gave me a wave before heading off on his way.

"Holy shit," Remy commented after Doug was out of our line of vision, "Your teacher is a dork."

"I don't know, I actually think he's pretty funny." I smiled as I gathered my books up off the table and dropped them into my bag.

Remy rolled his eyes, gathering the last of his salad onto his fork and stuffing it into his mouth, "You would."

I ignored his insinuation that I too am a dork, and stood up with my bag on my shoulder, "I have to go to my Film Studies class now. Which, I'm assuming you already knew, Houdini."

Remy smiled and stood up with me.

"Did you want to walk with me? Rogue will be there..."

"No." He answered quickly, pushing his chair in, "I don't want to see her right now."

"You're gunna have to see her eventually. Hot ass jeans and all."

Remy plucked his sunglasses back up off the table and put them back on, ignoring my comment.

"Thanks for lunch minette." He leaned down and gave me a kiss on the top of my head, which kind of leads me to believe that he totally didn't just want to mooch my food.

He's lonely.

"Sure." I said casually with a shrug, "Stop by whenever. It's better than eating alone."

We were totally going to have a bonding moment, when some chick who thought it was appropriate to still be wearing a sundress in late September strolled by and captured Remy's attention.

"Yeah, okay." He mumbled halfheartedly before offering me one final wave and following little miss sundress off into the distance.

I guess school isn't so bad after all. I mean, sure... the students think I'm dumb. But as long as the teachers are aware of how awesome I am, that's totally all that really matters.

I've never really been one for being a teachers pet, but I can seriously see the benefits.


	3. The TMNT Assumption

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number three:**

I don't ask for much in life. I really don't. I'm happy with what the good Lord has given me, for the most part. I don't complain too much when Logan sets mandatory Danger Room sessions for both Saturday AND Sunday. I don't get too bent out of shape when one of my favorite shows doesn't record on the DVR. I can stand the inconvenience of a long line for the ladies room at a busy club.

All I ask, is that I have music in the car. That's it.

Okay, that's not really _it_, but as of right now, that's it.

If I have to be stuck in a car for three hours every day, I want to be able to listen to music. Any music. I don't care, put Country music on. That Kenny Brooks guy... or the dude who's on American Idol... I'll even listen to Rogue's crap music.

Unfortunately for me, this is no longer an option.

Our cars stereo system has died.

May it rest in peace.

We made it all the way to school without any sign of impending doom. It wasn't until we got into the car for our journey home, that we made the horrible discovery.

The first twenty minutes without music weren't so bad. We were both pretty preoccupied with city traffic. It was once we got out of the city that we really noticed the silence.

"So, how was your day?" I asked as I skimmed some of my mandatory reading for the night.

"Fine." Rogue shrugged, glancing at me through the corner of her eye, "You know I hate it when you do homework in the car."

She claims that it's not fair, since she has to drive. She's such a suck.

"Well what else am I supposed to do?" I looked up at her and frowned, "Sing? You want me to sing? Because I totally will."

"No. I definitely do not want you to sing."

"Alright, then. Tell me about your day." I closed my book and tossed it in the back seat.

We've been spending a lot of time together. It's not like we don't _enjoy_ talking to one another anymore, it's just that sometimes, we run out of things to say. Like an old married couple.

So Rogue sighed as she checked her rear-view mirror, "Same as every other day."

"Still haven't had any bites with your hot ass jeans?"

She snorted, "They're all just intimidated. Would_ you_ talk to me with this ass if you were a guy?"

I raised an eyebrow and turned to her, "Do we have a little bit of a leather pants complex starting here?"

She pressed her lips into a smile, "I don't think I could ever measure up to your amount of crazy."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. Because she's probably right.

"I mean, it makes sense." She nodded to herself, "It's your personality type."

I scrunched up my nose and frowned at her, "Huh?"

"We've been studying personality types in psych class. You know, Jung, Briggs Myers, the four temperaments..." She began to explain as if I should know what she was talking about, "We haven't gotten very far yet. Mostly focusing on the four humours. My Professor actually used the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to explain each temperament to us. You know, Leonardo leads- which is melancholic; Donatello does machines -phlegmatic; Raphael is cool, but crude -choleric; Michelangelo is a party dude -sanguine."

"I don't know the Ninja Turtles by name." I said flatly, a little amused by the fact that for once, Rogue was more nerdy than me.

She let out a sigh, "Raphael is red, Leonardo is blue, Donatello is purple, and Michelangelo is orange. Better?"

"Sure." I rolled my eyes, "Do you have a point?"

"Yes." Rogue said with a very audible edge, "My Professor explained to us that a lot of the time, these four different personalities are attracted to one another. He used the Ninja Turtles as his example, but you can basically spot the pattern in any group of four."

"Like Sex and the City?" I pursed my lips and thought for a moment, "Carrie would be blue, Charlotte would be purple, Miranda is totally red and Sam is orange."

"Yeah sure." Rogue muttered. She's never seen an episode in her life, so her disinterest is understandable. "Which one is the horse faced chick?"

I chose to ignore her stupid question. This is generally the safest response.

"Or the Backstreet Boys, New Direction, The Spice Girls!" I was having way too much fun, I'll admit this. "Ooooh! Archie! Archie is the blue leader, Betty is the purple smart one, Veronica is the red hot head and orange Jughead just wants to party with some burgers..."

Rogue cut her eyes to me with a smirk, "I don't want to know about your thoughts on Jughead."

"Oh shut up. It's not dirty, I just think he's under appreciated." I let out a breath and shook my head, "Okay, so what is your point? My personality is obviously purple smarty pants. Donatello? I'm totally Donatello."

"Actually, my point is, that within this realm of thinking, you would be the crazy leather pants party guy."

I let out a very unamused laugh, "As if! I'm not like that all the time. I'm the sensible smart guy. Everyone knows that. If anything, Remy would be the party dude."

"Remy isn't... Loud enough to be Michelangelo."

"Oh, so now I'm loud?"

Rogue frowned, "You know what I mean. You're more... Excitable. Everything is always dialed up to 11 with you."

"That is not true."

"Remember Jean's baby shower? When you got up on stage and tried your hand at stripping?" She smirked.

I crossed my arms and pouted, "Well if I'm not the smart one, then who is? You? Ha!"

Rogue glanced at me through the corner of her eye. "Pete would be. Donatello is artistic, calm, rational. You are none of those."

I narrowed my eyes at her, even though she's right. About me not being artistic, calm and rational. Because I'm obviously still the smart one.

"Oh yeah. And who exactly would you be?"

"I am Leonardo, the leader." She informed me with a nod, "And Remy would be Raphael, the hot head."

"Oh puh-lease." I rolled my eyes, "You are not the leader. Maybe in your head you're the leader, but in reality... the world does not revolve around you. And Remy has **half** the temper you have."

"That's bull shit. You know Remy has a temper."

"Yes, but not like you. You threw a _plate at him_." I emphasized those last three words because I really feel like they hammer my point home. "You are totally the hot head."

"I hate to break it to you, but Pete could be the hot head too you know." Rogue shot another glance my way and I gave her a look of derision. "Don't look at me like that, it's true."

"You're grasping at straws here Rogue."

"You seem to forget that Pete used to be a super villain. The potential is there." She remarked, keeping her eyes fixed on the road, "And he has a temper, Kit. We've all seen it."

I've never really discussed this, and it's not exactly common knowledge because he's learned a lot of self control, but yes. Pete had a temper. _Had_. Working under Magneto will do that to you. Unless you're _beguiled_ by him, then of course, I'm sure you'd enjoy _working under Magneto_. Wouldn't you, Rogue.

That's right, I said it.

"He's not like that anymore."

"Only because you've domesticated him." Rogue continued pushing my buttons, "You've watered him down to this wishy washy version of what he once was. When he first moved in, his artwork was always really edgy and progressive. Now, he might as well be painting portraits of crying clowns, and beach scenery."

I snorted, "Yeah, because _your_ opinion on art is the one everyone listens to."

"I happen to know a thing or two about art Kitty, and I also know that Pete probably would agree with me. He's just not inspired like he used to be."

"You know jack shit about art, Rogue. You took Pottery 101 during shopping week and that's basically the extent of your depth of knowledge."

"That's not true. I enjoy those quirky Indie movies that you find so lame. That's a form of art too."

"_Stupid_ art." I muttered, looking out the window, "And just so you know, going from being an introverted bad guy to being a sensitive nice guy is a good thing. Not all of us are attracted to egotistical, self destructive dicks, Rogue." I snapped hook my head, "The only reason you think Pete's_ domesticated_ is because he's not a giant ass. That's your bread and butter. Remy? Magneto-"

"Woah, that does _not_ count." She frowned and turned to look at me, "Magneto!?"

"Oh, I'm sorry.~*~_Joseph~*~_." I said his name and batted my eyelashes for effect. Sure, she may not have known he was Magneto at the time, but we all know she totally had the hots for him. Don't even. And finding out that he was an egotistical ass hole afterwards, likely just made that flame burn a little bit brighter.

I know Rogue, guys. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

"Oh! That's right! You two shared a love for art, didn't you?" I smiled wryly "The only difference is, he's actually old enough to have known Picasso in person."

"You promised me you wouldn't bring him up anymore." She ground out through gritted teeth. "Promised!"

"Yeah well, I lied." I shrugged. It's pretty hard not to bring it up to be honest. I mean, come on. "Besides, it just helps to make my point. You are naturally drawn to the asshole type. Is there a Ninja Turtle for that? Because that's who you'd be."

"Ass hole**_ type_**?!" Rogue uttered an unattractive snort, "All men are ass holes, Kitty. I hate to break it to your naive little heart, but Pete's a man. He's no exception to this. You just seem to want to see him like he's some sort of Disney Prince or something. You've made him _boring_."

"Take that back."

"No!" Rogue refused with a single laugh, "It's the truth! You've drained his inspiration! You have killed his mojo."

"I have not killed his mojo. His mojo is just fine."

"Admit it Kitty, he's a nice guy and all but you've made him a drag. Yawn."

She might possibly have hit a nerve. It's not that I think she's right or anything, I just don't entirely think she's wrong. I don't fit into Pete's artistic world. Which is okay, I guess...

"Why do you think he spends so much time at this art studio?" Rogue continued.

"Shut up."

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed, Kit."

"If you're trying to get on my nerves Rogue, you've succeeded. Now shut the hell up."

"I'm just saying-"

"I don't want to hear it." I snapped as I fumbled with my seat belt, "I'm done listening to you."

"What are you doing?!" She eyed me as I tried to free myself from the seat belt prison. I mean yeah, I could have just phased through it, but where's the flare in that?

"I'm getting into the back seat!" I declared, "I can't even stand to be in the same car segment as you right now, Rogue. I'd rather sit in the back alone."

"Oh my_ God_ Kitty, you're so dramatic." She sighed and shook her head.

"I am _not_ dramatic. You're just a jerk. You get a serious kick out of pissing me off." I continued to fiddle around with the seat belt as I barked at her, "Especially when it comes to my so-called boring relationship. Sounds to me like you're just jealous that I at least _have_ a relationship."

"That is just stupid, why would I be jealous of _you?_" She laughed, "Of all people?!"

I let out a huff and frowned. "You are the _worst_ best friend ever!"

Rogue knit her brow, "What is your-"

"I'm not a stupid hamster, Rogue." I clipped, still fumbling with my seat belt. Yeah. I remember that part of her blog. I know how she sees me. "That's all I am to you! You're only my friend when you feel like it. All the other times you're just a bitch with a shit attitude, and we're all supposed to think that it's endearing." I let out a frustrated grunt, "What is wrong with this effing seat belt!?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" She chuckled, "Do you know how much of your crap I put up with, Pryde? Your lovable ditz routine gets old real fast. If it's at all possible, I think you're literally driving me insane. One crazy bitch episode at a time." She glanced at me struggling with my seat belt and let out a breath, "You have to push the button all the way down."

"I know how to do it!" I bit out, even though I clearly did not. "And by the way, it's not exactly like you're incredibly tolerable all the time. Like, I'm super happy that you finally figured out how to use Pinterest, but if you keep sending me pictures of that stupid angry cat I'm going smash your face through the computer screen."

"_Grumpy_ cat." Rogue frowned.

"_Whatever_." I finally got the stupid seat belt undone, twisting around in my seat and climbing my way into the back of the car.

"You're just going to sit back there now?" She asked, looking at me through the rear view mirror, "Like a pouting little brat?"

"Yep." I grabbed my book and went back to reading my homework, which I knew would totally just piss her off.

When we got back home, we both clomped inside without a word to one another. I went up to our room, and she went straight to the kitchen.

If she's not careful, she won't fit into those hot ass jeans for very long.

Burn.

After I finished up my work for the night, I made my way down to the garage where I was sure Pete would be, working on the stupid stereo system for Rogue. He looked up at me from the drivers seat where he was busy unscrewing the dash or something, and gave me a smile.

"I heard you had an interesting trip home today."

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes, heading across the garage to the car, "Interesting. What did she tell you?"

"She told me you were being dramatic."

I frowned and leaned against the side of the car next to where Pete was working. "Yeah well, she's a jerk."

Pete smiled. He was totally agreeing with me. Or maybe he was agreeing with both of us, don't burst my bubble okay?

"What happened?" He went back to fiddling with the stereo.

I shrugged and shook my head, "Just Rogue being Rogue." I didn't exactly want to tell him that she thinks he's boring and that his art is crap, so I decided to summarize, "She thinks we're boring. Do you think we're boring?"

He looked back up at me and furrowed his brow, "She is not exactly the life of the party herself."

I scoffed and shook my head. "I know right?!" I pursed my lips and stuffed my hands into my pockets, "But seriously, are we?"

He sat back in the seat and let out a breath, "I don't know."

"We do watch a lot of _Project Runway_..." I bit my lip.

"We are just set in our ways." Pete countered, taking my hand and pulling me onto his lap. "We are comfortable."

My brow pinched and I looked down, "I guess."

"We can think of new things to do." He rubbed my back, "I could take you to the studio downtown. You have not seen any of my work there yet."

I turned to him with a smile and slipped my arms around his neck, "I would like that."

He smoothed his hands up and down my sides slowly and the corner of his mouth tugged up slightly, "Not everything we do is boring."

I pressed my lips into a small smile, "I guess our scrapbook nights are pretty fun..."

That was a joke guys. We only had one scrapbook night. And I realized how much I hate scrapbooking.

We were having an awfully nice time canoodling in the front seat of that car when Illyana pushed the door open with a text book under her arm.

"Piotr, I am - **_Ugh!_**" She recoiled and covered her eyes when she realized that Pete was not alone.

Seriously, you'd think she just walked in on us in the shower or something with the way she reacted. It's been a year Illyana. You should be used to it by now.

Anyways, I pulled away from Pete and rolled my eyes as I climbed out of the car.

"What did you want Illyana?" He asked, climbing out of the car after me.

She peeked out from between her fingers to make sure it was safe to look before dropping her hand and furrowing her brow, "I thought you were in here _working_."

"I am working Illyana." Pete let out a breath, "I was just taking a break."

She squared her jaw and huffed, "You told me you would help me with Algebra."

"I will. When I am finished fixing the stereo in Rogue's car."

"I will wait here then." She turned her eyes to me and raised an eyebrow, "Goodbye Kitty."

I turned my eyes skyward and said a silent prayer for strength before making my exit.

Seriously. Which one of the Ninja Turtles is an incredibly obnoxious little brat? Because that's the one Illyana is.

It's Michelangelo, isn't it.

I'm totally not Michelangelo guys, Rogue is so full of crap.

I'm **_not_**.


	4. I shouldn't have fed the hobo

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'. Thank you all for your reviews! I generally don't respond to them individually, but I really am grateful. I write this crap for you guys. :) Please keep them coming!

**Entry number four:  
**

Well, it's been a week and Rogue and I have yet to talk. I mean, we share words now and then, as you would expect from someone you share a room with. But nothing substantial.

Frankly, I don't think she gives a rats ass that she ticked me off.

Either way, I'm pretty proud of myself for holding out this long. I'm usually always the one who breaks the ice, post fight. I hate silence- I know, this is a shock- I also enjoy life much better when people are just getting along. So I'll just swallow my pride and go apologize.

But not this time. No way Jose.

She is getting the royal silent treatment from me, whether she cares about it or not. All I'm askin' is for a little respect. Just a little bit.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

And I shall remain silent until I get some.

I see the flaw in my plan guys, I'm self aware. I know Rogue is likely enjoying the Kitty radio silence.

Anyways, with the absence of my bestie to talk to, and my boyfriend somewhat pre-occupied with a big project at this art studio he's yet to take me to, you can imagine that I had some pent-up talking... energy.

Like a can of Pepsi that's been shaken up for a week. I needed someone to crack me open to release all that pressure.

So I was actually happy to see Remy sitting in my seat when I showed up in the cafeteria at school today. I sat down across from him and dropped my bag on the ground next to me,

"Houdini strikes again, hmm?"

He gave me a smile and pulled his sunglasses off, "I thought you might miss me."

"I know you're joking, but you're actually kind of right. A little bit. In a way." I explained as I pulled my lunch out of my bag. "Rogue and I haven't talked in a week, so I'm kind of going through talk-withdrawl."

"Uh oh. What'd you do this time?"

"She's being a mega jerk. I mean sure, I might have overreacted-"

"You? Never." He interjected with a smirk.

"-But I was totally justified in being ticked."

"Okay, I'll bite. What did she say?" He leaned back in the chair, watching while I arranged my lunch in front of me.

"It doesn't matter what she said. It's how she said it." I pouted, "She acts like she's this perfect entity, gracing the rest of us with her presence. I'm sick of being her hamster."

Remy furrowed his brow, clearly confused. I can't say I blame him.

"I'm amusing to her, and that's basically the only reason why she keeps me around." I explained, sensing his confusion over the whole hamster thing.

"You know that's not true. She doesn't have enough _patience_ for that to be true." Remy shook his head.

I considered his reasoning for a moment before nodding reluctantly, "Yeah I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right." He snorted, "I'm always right."

I ignored his pompous remark and gave him half of my chicken salad sandwich, "You know I gotta say, your dad must not be paying you very well for this mystery job, if you have to continually mooch food off of me."

Remy took the half with a frown, "This is all I get? Half a sandwich?"

"Seriously?!" I frowned back at him before tossing him my bag of baby carrots, "Get a real job, Remy."

"No drink?" His eyebrows perked up expectantly.

"Don't feed the stray dog Kitty, you'll never get rid of him..." I let out a deep sigh and slid my bottled water closer to him. "And if you bitch at me about cooties, I will kick you. And I will not miss."

He smirked, grabbing my water and taking a big swig, "Thanks minette."

"Yeah, yeah." I muttered. I guess I'm just a sucker for those big red and black puppy dog eyes.

"You still haven't told me what your fight was about." He pointed out, taking a slightly too-big bite of his half of the sandwich.

"Just dumb relationship stuff. She likes pushing my buttons when she's unhappy. Misery enjoys company and all that crap, right?" I sighed as I picked at my sandwich, "So she tells me I'm Michelangelo when I'm _clearly _Donatello, and then starts telling me that I'm boring and that I'm uninspiring and Pete's art sucks because of me."

"That's a lot to take in." Remy shook his head, clearly regretting his decision to bring the topic up.

"And then she tells me that I've got some type of Disney Princess delusion and that Pete is capable of being a jerk, just because I told her she's got terrible taste in guys."

Remy knit his brow and sat up a little straighter, "Hey!"

"She's attracted to ass holes. Sorry, but it's true." I took a bite of my sandwich to make sure I kept a straight face, "You. Magneto..."

"Aw come on." Remy grimaced, "That's not cool."

"It's true though. Am I right?" I asked with my eyebrows raised into my hairline. He couldn't argue with me. Rogue was totally smitten with him when she thought he was Joesph.

Remy sucked in a breath and his frown deepened, "You just had to go there didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. Because it proves my point."

"You know she pokes at weak spots in others when she's pissed about something. Don't get all bitchy about it, minette."

I gave him a flat look in response because he just told me not to get bitchy in response to bitchiness. Come on Remy.

"Well, you're lucky she didn't just ditch you on the side of the road after that comment." He muttered, taking another bite of sandwich, "You might want to think about getting your license back."

"I _have_ my license." I said with a little bit more attitude then necessary, "I don't have insurance."

"Well _whatever_." Remy shot back with attitude, "My suggestion is to talk to the Professor about gettin' that shit fixed. Because I guarantee you that one of these days, you're going to piss her off to the point that she's just going to leave for school without you. Then what are you gunna do, ask Kurt to teleport you here?" He asked with a snort.

I had thought about it, but I'm pretty sure he can't teleport this far yet. It's my plan B, okay?

"I don't know why they took me off the insurance to begin with." I frowned, taking a bite of my sandwich, "I mean, you ding the wrong guys door and suddenly you're a high risk driver."

Remy rolled his eyes, "You honestly don't know? You're the so-called genius, and you don't know?"

"I'm not a_ so-called_ genius. And I'm also not a bad driver, I'm an assertive driver."

"You drove at me in reverse with your eyes closed." Remy said flatly.

"Yeah." I gave him a single nod, "And I didn't hit you, did I?"

Remy worked the muscles in his jaw and took a drink of my water, and I could tell I was pushing my luck.

"You almost killed me."

I smirked, clearly deciding to live on the edge, "To be fair, you said the same thing about the flu shot you refused to get last year, so..."

He sucked in a breath and pursed his lips, "If if they get an air bubble into your vein you will _die_. I'm not making this shit up."

"Still thinking about getting that earring?" The corner of my mouth tugged up and I couldn't help myself, "You don't have to worry about air bubbles with the earring gun-"

"Jesus, they use a _gun_?"

"Well, yeah. What did you think, they actually use a needle?"

"I don't know, I never really thought about it before..." He furrowed his brow thoughtfully, obviously taking this new bit of information into consideration.

"I mean really, the gun is faster than a needle would be, right? Like, wham bam, thank you ma'am."

Remy sneered at me, even though I'm not entirely sure why he had a problem with my comparison. I mean, I'm sure he's wham bammed his share of ma'ams... so it's not like he should be offended.

He tugged his ear and frowned, "It's only one ear. It can't hurt that much."

"Yeah, about that. You really should get both done." I shook my head, "One earring is incredibly lame. Two; less lame."

"Right, like I'm going to trust your judgment on this one." He rolled his eyes and chomped down on a baby carrot.

He seriously should trust my judgment on this one.

George Michael called, he wants his earring back.

Vanilla Ice called, he wants his earring back.

New Kids On The Block called, they want their earrings back.

See?

"If you really wanted to be badass, you'd get a tattoo." I said with a smile, knowing oh-so-well that if the guy couldn't handle getting both ears pierced, there's no way in hell he could stand being pierced repetitively. I don't know first hand, but I've been told it feels like being burned by a cigarette. "I mean, if you really wanted to look like Adam Levine.-"

"I don't want to look like Adam Levine."

"-You'd totally get a tattoo. Just don't get one of those stupid tribal things. Or any Chinese symbol."

"They're pretty permanent. I can take an earring out whenever I want. Tattoos are there. Forever. Marring my perfect body. Forever."

"I hate to break it to you, Rems but you're not going to have a perfect body forever." I snorted.

He knit his brow, "Did you just call me Rems?"

"Besides, if you get something you really like, you could really like it _forever_." I nodded, ignoring him questioning my choice of nickname, "Like a butterfly. Or a heart or something. Or a dragonfly! Totally..."

He furrowed his brow at me and cocked his head, "Sounds like you've been giving this some thought."

"Me?" I scoffed, "No way. Too permanent. I'd hate to mar my perfect body like that."

Remy chuckled, "Perfect-" He stopped before he could further laugh at my comment. The smile disappeared from his face, he scooped his sunglasses up and popped them back on his face, "I gotta go. See ya, minette."

"...Wait, what?" I furrowed my brow, watching him jump to his feet and swiftly disappear into crowd of students bustling about.

I rolled my eyes, muttering to myself about how freakin' weird that guy is. I mean seriously, he's about as moody as a bi-polar chick with PMS. I took another bite of my sandwich, and was about to take the rest of the half that Remy had left behind back from the other side of the table, when Rogue came to a stop behind Remy's empty seat.

She furrowed her brow, looking at the table which clearly shows that I had not been dining alone.

"Who were you eating with?"

"Huh?" I blinked, wracking my brain for a non-moronic response. I'm not sure why Remy is opposed to Rogue right now, but I know that I'd rather not piss him off. Honestly, I kind of like hanging out with him. Sometimes. And I'm sure he wouldn't want to stop by for lunch if Rogue knew he was around. So I furrowed my brow at Rogue and shook my head, "Nobody."

She squinted, "I saw you sitting with a guy." she gestured to my food, "And you're clearly sharing your lunch."

I snorted, "No, I eat like this when I'm alone." I explained, taking the sandwich from where Remy was sitting and biting into it. "It makes it look like I'm _not_ alone. You know? Less pathetic."

"Right. _Less_ pathetic..." Rogue rolled her eyes before pulling the chair out and sitting down.

"Wait, why are you here?" I frowned.

"I had a test," She shrugged, popping a baby carrot into her mouth, "I finished early and got to leave."

"No. I mean _here_." I leaned forward, "You can't just waltz up and sit down and strike up a conversation as if everything is totally fine."

Rogue let out a breath and crossed her arms, "Alright, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said you and Pete were boring. I mean, you are by my standards. But that's okay, you know? And you're not stealing Pete's inspiration." Her eyes fell to the table between us and she knit her brow, "I don't know, Kit. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just..." She shook her head and let out a breath, "I don't know."

"And?" I raised an eyebrow expectantly, ignoring her partial admission that she is in fact jealous of me. This isn't news to me guys, and I'm not going to make her feel _bad_ about it.

"And... you're not Michelangelo." She rolled her eyes, "Even though you _are_..." She mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear.

I pursed my lips and leaned back with an eye roll, "Fine, whatever."

"I have some juicy gossip for you." Rogue smirked, "But I mean... Donatello wouldn't want to hear gossip. He's too sensitive, you know?"

I narrowed my eyes, "I'm sensitive. I have no desire to hear your gossip."

"Your eye is twitching."

I clenched my jaw and sighed, "Alright, fine. Tell me your stupid gossip."

She leaned forward in her seat as if someone we knew would be listening, "You don't know anything. You hear me?"

"Of course."

"Kurt is going to propose to Amanda."

My eyes widened and I sucked in a deep breath. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah. Seriously. He asked me to borrow some money to buy a ring."

I furrowed my brow, "Seriously...?"

"Yeah." Rogue nodded, "I don't think he's all that great with planning."

"Y'think?!" I snorted, "He can't even afford a ring? Where are they going to live? How's he going to support her?"

"I think he's hoping to follow Scott's footsteps, and get the Professor to build him a house." Rogue raised an eyebrow, "Let's just hope he doesn't try to get Amanda pregnant first."

Yeah, it was mean. But come on... it's pretty funny. Admit it, you laughed.

"So did you give him the money?" I frowned, "You know you're not getting that money back."

"Are you kidding me? Hell no, I didn't lend him shit. If he wants make a stupid ass mistake, he can sell his XBox." Rogue shook her head, "He wants to propose at a Knicks game. I don't think he realizes that you actually have to pay to get into a Knicks game."

I shook my head, "What's he going to do, slip the Knicks a ten and get them to help him propose?"

"Exactly." Rogue snorted, "I love the guy, but he's such an idiot sometimes."

"Did he say _why_ exactly he's planning on popping the question?" I asked, because frankly, there is a possibility that he's already following fairly closely in Scott's footsteps. If you catch my drift.

"She's going away for school, he wants to lock it down before she meets someone else." Rogue ate another baby carrot and shook her head, "I mean, I get his reasoning. It's actually kind of smart. Long distance relationships are tough, you know? Plus, Kurt is no Adam Levine."

That girl and Adam Levine... I swear. It's getting weird Rogue. It's definitely getting weird.

"I guess." I sighed. I don't think it's smart at all. I think it's stupid. Very very stupid. "Have they even talked about getting married before? I didn't realize things were _that_ serious..."

Rogue raised an eyebrow, "Do you think that if they'd talked about it, he'd be proposing at a Knicks game?"

I smiled, "Good point. No woman in her right mind would want to be put on the spot like that. On the Jumbotron? With millions of people watching?"

"_So_ cliche." Rogue nodded in agreement, "If I ever get engaged, I'd want it to be intimate, you know?"

"Like... say, at a friends wedding reception? When you're both hammered?" I grinned.

She pressed her lips into a thin, unamused smile. "Yes. Exactly like that."

"I don't know," I said with a slightly dreamy sigh. I can't help myself. Weddings kind of make me dreamy. Unless we're referring to my mother's wedding to Keith, in which case, substitute 'dreamy' with 'barfy'. "I just want to be surprised. Not with a Jumbotron, but something... creative. Planned out. Like a treasure hunt or something."

"A treasure hunt?" Rogue grimaced, "Seriously.

"Totally! Oooh! Like with elaborate clues, all throughout the city, and then when I get to the last clue, there are rose petals everywhere and doves and like... a string quartet..."

"Yeah, that's a lot better than the Jumbotron." Rogue muttered.

"It's definitely a lot better than, 'Ev'ry rose has its t'orn, baby. Remy wants to marry de cow'." I reminded her of Remy's drunken proposal once again. Because let's face it guys, it was pretty damn funny.

"That was a terrible accent, Kitty. He doesn't sound like the crab from the Little Mermaid." Rogue commented drily.

"He does a little bit, don't you think?"

Rogue sighed, "It's been too long, I don't remember what his stupid accent sound like anymore."

I pursed my lips and blinked at her.

"Don't look at me like that." She snapped, "It's just been a while since I've seen him, alright. Like, weeks. But it's not like I want to hear his stupid accent. I'm happy he hasn't been hanging around like a freeloader, stealing our food and shit."

He's been hanging around _me_ like a freeloader, stealing my food. She just doesn't know it.

"Not _happy_ he's not around." She went on, sensing my doubt in her former statement, "I just... it's good. You know? It's good that we don't have to see one another every (effing) day. We needed a break. I think we were one good insult away from trying to murder one another."

I nodded, "Sure, I get that."

"And I'm _happy_ to not have to worry about what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into, or what type of ditch his lifeless body is lying in..."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she's totally worried about him. I mean, it's either that or she actually saw _him_ sitting with me and is trying to guilt me into spilling the beans. However, based on the fact that Rogue has a terrible poker face, I think it's fairly safe to say that she most certainly did not see Remy sitting with me, and is genuinely worried. In an incredibly passive way.

Herein lies my dilemma; do I risk pissing Remy off and tell Rogue that she has nothing to worry about? Or do I keep my mouth shut and let the chips fall where they may?

I pressed my lips together and cleared my throat, "Yeah. And I mean... you could always call him if you ever did get worried..."

"Are you kidding me?" Rogue sneered, "All that would get me is an earful of bitching. He'd accuse me of dressing like a whore and butting into his own personal business, and then hang up on me. And then, I'd_ definitely_ have to murder him."

"Well at least you would know he wasn't dead in a ditch. Unless you put him there." I said with a hopeful grin.

Rogue did not find it amusing.

I hate to sound so lowbrow, but that girl needs to get some action.

She is way too uptight.

Oh brother, I'm starting to sound like him. Two lunches in two weeks and he's already starting to rub off on me...


	5. Art

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number five:**

So, I have to say I was pretty excited to see this illusive art studio Pete's always going off to. It's like the Batcave or something. His Fortress of Solitude. Or something less... horribly geeky.

It's not like he spends all his time there. Or even like he does a lot of work there, so he tells me. He enjoys the company. Which I totally understand. Now that I'm not a complete social leper at school and people actually willingly communicate with me now and then, it's nice to have people around me with similar interests. I totally have _Conductor_ Doug to thank for that one...

Anyways, I get it. And like I said, I was excited. I was excited to meet these people who _get_ Pete. It didn't even really occur to me that I might need to be you know, nervous about this meeting at all. That is, until I walked into the studio hand-in-hand with Pete. He let me go, explaining that he needed to "take care of a few things" and that he'd "be right back".

I was kind of overwhelmed. The large warehouse space had been sectioned in random areas to allow for different work stations. Paintings hung off of makeshift walls made out of chicken wire, there was someone off to the left of me painting a gas can pea green, and I'm pretty sure the giant sculpture in the back corner was a bunch of boobs piled up on top of one another. Like boob mountain or something.

I admired the many works in progress scattered throughout the space, attempting to determine where the path was through the work stations and works on display, not wanting to bother any of the artists while they were... arting.

That's a poor choice of words, but it sounds funny so I'm leaving it.

I wound my way through the indiscernible path, not entirely sure if I was staying on the path or not, finding myself caught up staring at a painting of a paint can, trying to figure out why someone would paint a picture of a paint can, when I heard,

"What are you _doing_?!"

I turned to my right, noticing a very irritated looking guy wearing a black hoodie and skinny jeans, scowling at me from under a veil of black hair. I blinked at him, waiting for him to continue, when he scoffed and shook his head,

"You're standing directly in the centre of my piece! Right in the (effing) middle! Like it's not even _there!_"

I looked down at my feet and then all around me, before eventually realizing he was referring to the arch I was standing under which apparently was not crucial to the architectural structure of the building.

"Oh..." I took a step back grimaced sheepishly, "Sorry I-"

"Keep going!" He gestured for me to keep moving. "I can't believe you'd just walk through me like that!"

I looked at the arch and then looked back at him, "I'm sorry, walked through _you_?"

This is a distinct possibility, but I'm positive I didn't walk through him.

He shook his head at me, and I'm pretty sure his eyes were watering, although it was kind of hard to see through his hair. "Everyone does. Nobody appreciates true beauty, not even when it's standing right there in front of you."

My eyebrows perked up, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was... not... walk-through-able." I internally cringed. I seriously wonder why I'm physically unable to speak like an intelligent human being when I'm put on the spot.

"Would you walk through the Winged Victory of Samothrace? Venus De Milo? Hermes and the Infant Dionysus?!" He scoffed, "This is a _sculpture_! Not a (effing) doorway!"**_  
_**

Okay, I only know one of the things he made reference to, and compared to _it_; Yes. This is an effing doorway.

I decided that I was going to absorb all I could out of this weird ass paint can portrait and continued on my way, slowing to a stop to when I came to the next weird ass piece. Three plastic bags tied to blue ribbons, tied to a folding chair, being blown skyward by a space heater.

I'm sorry guys, I just do not get art. I don't _get_ it.

And this was clearly written on my face when the tall, slender woman with the hot pink pixie cut in a tank top caught sight of me as she was welding something. She lifted the goggles off her head, tossing them to the ground behind her as she furrowed her pierced brow.

"Who are you?" She asked flatly.

I smiled genuinely, because that's what I do when I see the colour pink apparently, and held my hands behind my back, "I'm Kitty."

"Like a cat?" She pulled her gloves off, and I couldn't tell if she was trying to make a joke... or if she was actually confused by my name. Her tone had basically no character to it. I was literally boring her just by existing.

"Sure." I said, keeping my smile steady. She nodded with disinterest and looked down at whatever the hell it is she had been working on welding.

"And you are...?" I asked, trying to be as polite as I could.

She looked back up at me with her blank face and blinked a few times before setting the chunk of metal in her hands down on the work bench she'd been welding at. "Marrow."

"Like the bone?" I smiled, mimicking her question. She did not find it amusing evidently.

"So um... what's this?" I asked, gesturing to the... stuff, that had caught my attention to begin with.

She let out a long breath and crossed her arms, turning her head to look , and I noticed for the first time that the left side of her head was given the brush cut treatment.

How Miley Cyrus of her. Her left ear had piercings all the way up the cartilage and I made a mental note to tell Remy about it. I mean, if he's going to get an earring, he may as well go all out, right?

"I call it_ The Dimension of Desire: Part Two._" She informed me, "That's _what it is_."

"Okay. Well, what is it... supposed to say?"

"I can't answer that question." Marrow looked down at me with her brows pinched, ever so slightly. "That's like asking, what does the color of your shirt say?"

I looked down at my yellow shirt and then looked back up at her with an impatient smile, "It says that it's happy."

"You're too literal." She looked back up at her piece, "This is meant to be thought provoking. It's meant to make you ask questions about our social construct. Rules. No rules. Barriers. Limitations."

Funny, cuz it looked like a bunch of crap to me.

She sniffed, "Piotr has the same issue."

I cut my eyes back to her with a frown, "Huh? How did you-"

"He's told me about you." She cut me off, "You're his girlfriend. Kitty."

"Oh." I replied nodding dumbly, "Good things I hope." I added with a half grin.

She shrugged.

I cleared my throat and looked down at her right arm, which was practically covered with one big tattoo of a colourful peacock.

"That's nice," I pointed at her arm, "Does it symbolize something... or...?"

She glanced down at her arm before flicking her blue eyes back to me, "No. I just thought it was pretty." She said before turning around and heading back to her work bench.

Honestly, I have no idea if she was being sarcastic, or if that was her genuine answer.

Thankfully, Pete chose this moment to show up, saving me from any more awkwardness. He gave me a big smile, shooting a glance towards Marrow.

"You are staying out of trouble?" He asked teasingly.

"Sure." I nodded with a grin, "Just chatting with Marrow here..."

Pete slipped his hand in mine and offered her a warm smile, "I hope she is not bothering you."

I chose not to be offended. Because frankly, I probably _was_ bothering her, and Pete is well aware of my bothersome ways.

Marrow picked her goggles up off the floor and slipped them back on her head with a shrug and the hint of a smile on her lips, "No more than you."

He chuckled, "Is that so?"

"She was just telling me about your barriers... or... something." I shrugged, "There was mention of a peacock, and my shirt's yellow."

Pete laughed, even though Marrow did not get my joke. Not even a little bit. I think she actually thought I was sincerely that stupid.

Oh well.

"I told her you're too literal." Marrow pulled her gloves back on, giving Pete a smirk, "Nothing I haven't told you already."

Pete smiled, "Yes, I know." He looked down at me to further explain, "Marrow does not think I am living up to my potential."

"Geeze," I looked at her, "You sound like my mother."

She picked her chunk of metal up off the work bench and fired up her welder or whatever and went back to work, literally acting as if I hadn't even said a word.

"You need to experiment more Piotr." She informed him with a nod, "Step outside of your safe zone once in a while."

I nodded along with her and pointed at him, "Yeah, you know they're always saying that on American Idol."

He smiled at Marrow and gave my hand a squeeze without giving me a look. I know what this means. We all know what this means. This mean "hush Kitty".

So I clamped my mouth shut and watched them continue to chat as if I wasn't even there.

Which is probably for the best.

After a short exchange between them, we were on our way, and I have to say I was pretty grateful that I wasn't expected to speak again. I much prefer being the arm candy.

I don't _like_ it, but I prefer it.

Pete looked down at me with a smile, "Did you run into anyone else yet?"

"Some emo kid who had a mental breakdown because I was standing in his exhibit." I shrugged.

"That is Simon." Piotr chuckled, "Don't worry, he is like that with everyone."

"I mean, why make an arch, if you can't walk through it? It just logically doesn't make sense." I shook my head, "And then Marrow's... thing."

Piotr ruffled my hair playfully, "I did not expect you to _understand_ everything."

I smacked his hand away from my head because boyfriend or not, you do not mess with a woman's hair. Come on Pete.

"Do you understand all these things?" I asked as I fixed my hair.

"No," He shook his head as he lead me through the studio, "But that is not the point. You do not have to understand_, _just appreciate the ideas."

"I don't get it." I mumbled and Pete kissed the top of my head.

"You do not have to."

A pretty girl with brown hair, streaked with bright red, wearing a pair of those geeky horn rimmed glasses which are supposed to be super trendy right now, turned around from a giant framed picture of an eyeball with a wide smile,

"Hi Pete!" She looked at me and surprisingly, her smile didn't falter at all. I say surprisingly because frankly, I was beginning to think all of these artsy fartsy folk were jerks.

"Meeghan, this is my girlfriend, Kitty." He introduced us and Meeghan shook my hand,

"It's great to finally meet you." She said enthusiastically, "He talks about you all the time."

I smiled and looked up at Pete, "That's really embarrassing Pete. It makes you look whipped."

Meeghan laughed. She actually laughed. She got my joke. Finally, I had found someone who wasn't pretentious.

"Meeghan is a photographer." Piotr explained. She nodded and gestured to the line of photographs on the wall,

"This is a series I've been working on. They're all closeups, it's meant to depict the beauty in details."

This, I get.

I smiled as I looked at the photographs and shook my head, "They're very cool."

"Thank you." Meeghan grinned, turning back to Pete, "Have you taken her to see your work yet?" She looked back at me with a head shake, "He's really good."

"We are just headed over there now." He slipped his hand back into mine and inclined his head to the side, indicating that he wanted me to follow him.

"It was nice meeting you!" I gave Meeghan a wave, and fell in step next to Pete. "I like her."

"She _is_ nice." Pete looked over his shoulder to make sure we were far enough away, "Obviously she is still new. She has a long way to go..." He gave my hand a little squeeze and smiled down at me, "It was very nice of you to be so kind about her work."

"Oh yeah," I shrugged, "Totally."

Her photographs looked fine to me. I was being sincere. But Pete doesn't know that, so let's just go with me being art smart.

I kept my mouth shut, following Pete the rest of the way to his station. When we got there, Pete waved his arm at the handful of paintings he was working on with a shrug,

"It is not much..."

I admired his paintings, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over them for a bit, realizing that with him working outside of the mansion, I don't get to see his finished product as often. And frankly, being reminded how talented he is, is a serious turn on.

Which is why, as he was in the middle of explaining this new technique he was trying out, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to my mouth.

"Here?!" He managed to ask as I was mauling him.

"Oh yeah." I replied quickly before going back to mauling him.

Alright so here's the deal; I may or may not... kind of enjoy... doing it in public. So we may or may not have found a closet... and we may or may not have, uh, made some pancakes.

And Rogue says I'm boring. Ha.

Anyways, all-in-all, it was an alright visit. Thankfully there weren't more people present to mock my lack of knowledge and look down at their noses at me. Basically I'm just glad it's over with, and that I do not have to go back there again. Like I said, I'm super happy Pete has it, but it is definitely not my thing.

I'm still scratching my head over boob mountain guys. Seriously, it looked like something Jamie dreamed up... and he's a 15 year old boy.

If you catch my drift.


	6. Magic Couch

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number six:**

It's October. Mid October to be specific. Which means that everywhere Rogue and I look around campus, we see constant reminders of the upcoming "events". This of course, irritates the crap out of Rogue.

She hates Halloween. According to her, it's setting this generations kids up for failure; teaching them that all they have to do to get what they want is dress up in some stupid-ass costume and beg.

Personally, I think she's just jealous. I mean, I can't exactly see Mystique being the domestic type, and I highly doubt little Roguey Darkholm ever got the chance to go trick-or-treating. The only part about Halloween she actually likes, is the B-rated horror movies which are constantly airing until November 1st.

I am the opposite. Free candy? Yes. Dressing up in costumes? Heck yes. Getting the crap scared out of me by a little girl who crawls out of a TV set? Nope. Not even a little.

However, there is one Halloween movie that I actually enjoy, and every year, Rogue and I watch together.

And that movie, is Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Okay, two movies. I forgot about Hocus Pocus.

Anyways, as I was saying, she hates Halloween. But the thing is, when you're new to a school and you're trying to fit in and find new friends and for some reason your hot ass jeans just aren't cutting it, you kind of have to up the ante.

And that means, we're going out.

That's right guys, I managed to talk the eternal grouch into going out on Halloween night. I didn't even have to twist her arm too much. She's even dressing up.

I did have to twist her arm on that one.

But once I told her that we should be Magenta and Columbia from Rocky Horror Picture Show, she was visibly less opposed to the idea.

I mean sure, I could be Columbia on my own, but the last time I tried that, everyone thought I was Liza Minnelli.

So eventually, I won her over and she agreed to dress up as the alien housekeeper from the planet Transsexual. As we were discussing our costumes, I brought up how easy it'll be for her to get things together. All she needs is some white face paint, a curly haired wig, and a maids costume.

She pursed her lips at me, reluctantly announcing that she knew where we could get the last item.

Which is how we ended up at Remy's place.

Of course Rogue didn't listen to me when I insisted that Remy was likely back living there. It's been something like a month since Rogue saw him last, so for all she knows, he's gone back to New Orleans. However, it's only been 2 days since** I** saw him. At our last lunch date.

It's like we're having a secret love affair, but instead of sex, we have ham sandwiches and zucchini slices.

It's weird, I know.

Anyways, I convinced her to give a courtesy knock before we just walked in, because again, I knew he was home.

And sure enough, he opened the door. After quickly recovering from the shock of us randomly showing up at his place, he let out a deep breath, leaning against the door frame with his forearm, "Damn it, I ordered a blonde."

Rogue muttered something under her breath, and I can only assume it was cursing me for being right.

"Really?" She crossed her arms with an unimpressed smile, "I seriously doubt you have high standards about who you let in. I kind of figured your bachelor pad had an open door policy."

He gave her a toothy grin in return. I'm thinking Rogue was probably right.

"Well, are we just gunna stand here, or are you gunna let us in?" I asked him with a quirked eyebrow.

"That depends, considering I have no idea what you're doing here."

"Oh please," Rogue rolled her eyes, pushing past him into the apartment, "We need to raid your closet."

"I thought you gave up men's clothes." He commented after I followed Rogue inside, shutting the door behind me, "Those jeans not workin' out for you after all?"

Rogue gave him a very pointed glare, before going back to scanning the apartment, "We need to borrow your one of your _costumes_. Damn, this is a nice place."

"_One_ of them?" My eyebrows perked up, "Crap, how many do you have?!"

"How many do _you_ have, Jem?" Remy smirked.

Touche.

"The French maid one." Rogue explained as she ran her hand along the kitchen counter, "Is this granite?"

"Wait, why do you need this?" Remy eyed me for a moment before turning back to Rogue who was walking by the wall of mirrors.

"Nice touch." She snorted.

"You should see the one above the bed." He wagged his eyebrows at her from over my head.

"I managed to talk her into going out with me on Halloween." I answered with a proud grin, "We've decided to be Columbia and Magenta, so we need the maid's costume."

"Dang Kitty! Look at this view!" Rogue called out to me from the window.

"Yeah, I know. I saw it when I was hanging a billion little twinkle lights from the ceiling, all by myself for Jean's baby shower." I shot Remy a look, "I mean in hindsight, it's not like you have awesome seating around here. Where would hippo Jean have sat, on the stupid lip couch?"

"Don't knock that couch. It's a panty dropper, _minette_."

I rolled my eyes impatiently, "The costume?"

"It's in the cardboard box in my closet." He gestured towards his bedroom, "It might be a little ripped." He smirked.

I scrunched up my nose deciding not to inquire into that one. It's pretty self explanatory.

I headed to Remy's room, kind of amazed that he trusted me enough to go into his room and snoop around. I found the costume pretty much right away, thanks to Remy's penchant for being horribly organized and tidy, and just as I was about to return to the living room saying as much, I heard Rogue let out a long breath and say,

"I can't believe I've never seen your place before."

I decided to hang back and wait a few minutes. This time is good for them to make nice. And yeah, so maybe I was peeking from the doorway, but that's totally only because I was looking out for their best interests. I know these two guys... you leave them alone for ten minutes and their either ripping each others heads off, or ripping each others clothes off. It's a proven fact.

"This ain't the kind of place you bring a _girlfriend_." Remy informed her with a grin.

"Is this your thing about keeping the mystery and crap? Because I gotta say, I'm pretty sure a girlfriend would be okay with having privacy." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was referring to herself.

"It's not just that." Remy stated, watching her wander around the apartment, "It's not a functional home. It's a means to an end. And that _end_ is usually right after she gets a shower."

Rogue scrunched up her nose in disgust before crossing her arms, "It's not like it _has_ to be that way. That's your choice."

"You're right, it is my choice. And I'm choosing to keep it that way." He said in a rather no-nonsense tone.

Rogue pressed her lips into a coy smile and raised an eyebrow, "But you bring Black Cat here."

"And like I told you, she's not my girlfriend."

"Alright," Rogue raised her hands in defense, "I'm just sayin'."

"You're not jealous that I never brought you here, are you?" Remy asked playfully and Rogue scoffed,

"No."

He grinned when he realized that she was lying through her teeth, "You are!"

"_No_!" She repeated firmly, "I just... I'm _not_."

"Mmhmm..." He hummed skeptically with a smirk, "Well, when you and I get back together, I'll let you take the pole for a spin." He jerked his thumb towards the horribly tacky stripper pole where the dining room table should be.

Rogue blinked at him, and let out a breath, "You just said _when_."

"If. If you and I get back together." He corrected.

And then they both fell silent.

I can see how it's hard not to just assume they're going to end up back together, but you know what they say when you assume.

You can end up looking like an ass.

I literally cannot remember what they say when you assume, what the eff is wrong with me.

Anyways, eventually Rogue lowered herself onto the hideous lip couch and let out a breath, "So I guess this is where the magic happens, right?"

"It's not magic." Remy frowned, "That makes it seem like a trick, or an illusion. It's all skill chere."

I rolled my eyes, and I'm pretty sure Rogue did too,

"Skill," She chuckled, "I think once you've gotten them to this point, the bus kinda drives itself, wouldn't you say?"

"No, not at all." He shook his head, settling down next to her on the couch, "This is the most important part. They're feeling vulnerable. They're questioning their reasoning, you gotta make them feel comfortable and safe."

"On a couch that looks like lips?" She smirked.

"Yes. I told you, it's skill."

"Alright, well show me then." She shrugged with just the hint of a cheeky little grin playing on her lips.

Playing with fire Rogue... I should have stepped in at that point, but I was giving Rogue the benefit of the doubt here. She's a big girl. She shouldn't need Jiminy Cricket on her shoulder telling her what not to do.

"Show you." He repeated with a frown, "Show you what?"

"Show me your stupid couch move."

He smiled, "I don't think that's a good idea Rogue."

"What's the matter Lebeau," She taunted turning her body to face him and draping her arm over the back of the... lip. "Afraid it won't work?"

"No," He began in that deep buttery tone he gets when he's talking to her. I've heard that tone many times. Usually when he'd sneak into our room late at night and sweet talk his way into her bed, not even caring a little bit that I'm 4 feet away. "I _know_ it'll work..."

They shared a very pregnant stare and I saw Rogue force down a swallow and Remy's gaze moved down to her mouth.

What did I say? Ten minutes, and they're all ready to go.

I cleared my throat and stepped out of the bedroom with the costume in hand, "Found it." I announced like a bucket of ice cold water over their heads, "And seriously guys." I added with a roll of my eyes and a pointed nod towards their compromising position. "Not cool."

"I told you," Remy let out a breath and ran a hand over his face, "The couch is a panty dropper."

The couch is a pair of lips. You can't blame your bad behaviour on an inanimate object, especially when it's as ugly as that lip couch.

"What took you so long anyways?" Rogue frowned and stood up, distancing herself from the strangely powerful piece of furniture "I thought maybe you went to the can and fell in."

Nice recovery.

"Dammit Kitty, if you messed up my plumbing-"

"Geeze!" I stopped him before he could finish that thought because holy crap, gross, "Why would you automatically assume that?! Maybe I was snooping through your medicine cabinet. Maybe I was going through your drawers, hmm?"

Remy chuckled for a moment as he stood up from the mystical couch before turning dangerously serious, "You weren't touching my stuff, right?"

"Don't act all surprised that I took advantage of the opportunity to spy on your medicine cabinet and I won't act like I'm surprised that you're taking advantage of an opportunity to try getting into my roommate's pants." I crossed my arms with the costume in my fist. "Again."

Rogue frowned, "Nobody was getting into my pants."

"What!" Remy held his hands up innocently, "She comes in here wearin' those things-" He flicked a hand towards Rogue's hot ass jeans, "-and I'm just supposed to ignore it?!"

"I thought you didn't _like_ her jeans."

"Of _course_ I (effing) like her jeans, _look_ at them!" And then he did, with his head cocked to the side and his eyes kind of glazed over.

Rogue crossed her arms impatiently, "Get to the _point_, Cajun."

He snapped back to reality, turning back to me with a frown, "I don't like the _idea_ of them." He explained, "I tapped the keg. I don't want to think about other guys takin' sips. It's a guy thing, it's biological. I can't (effing) help it, it's in my DNA."

So basically, Remy doesn't want any other dogs sniffing around his tree. I get that. But considering the fact that he's been relieving himself all over the forest these days, I think he should probably keep his comments to himself.

"I love it when you guys talk about me like I'm not even here." Rogue muttered sarcastically before passing Remy and heading for the door.

He, of course, shamelessly oogled the jeans as she made her way by him. I gave my eyes a dramatic roll and heaved a sigh,

"Alright, well thanks for the costume. We'll make sure to have it dry cleaned... before we use it..."

Remy gave me a half grin, "You two have fun. No drinking, hmm?" That was directed at me.

"You should come," Rogue said with a shrug, "You know... help keep an eye on Kitty."

I stared at her in shock. This was Rogue offering an olive branch, trying to make peace... this isn't exactly something you see every day.

I love the girl but she's kind of a hard ass.

"Nah," He casually waved a hand, "Halloween parties aren't my thing."

This, obviously, was a lie. I mean sure, Remy isn't the dress up type. But chicks walking around dressed up as different types of a slut? You know, slutty nurse, slutty school girl, slutty cat... That is definitely his thing. Definitely.

Watching guys hit on his ex-girlfriend? _That's_ not his thing.

"Alright. Your loss." Rogue turned the knob on the front door and pushed it open before looking back at him one more time, "But, you could come around the mansion every once in a while. You know, if you wanted to."

"Yeah?"

"Sure," Rogue gave him a nod, "We just managed to be in the same room together for more than two minutes, and we didn't even try to kill one another. I think that's a pretty big accomplishment."

Remy smiled, "We even had some friendly conversation, right?"

"Exactly." Rogue smiled back.

I chose to bite my tongue and not point out that they also spent some time eye screwing one another.

We exchanged goodbyes with Remy, and Rogue and I drove home in pleasant silence. Which was a definitely a welcomed surprise on my part, because I was totally expecting the drive home to be all tension filled and uncomfortable.

It's a small victory I guess. They're able to spend time together in the same room, with some adult supervision.

That's right guys, I was the adult in that situation. How sad is that?


	7. Let's Do The Time Warp Again!

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number seven:  
**

It's always nerve wracking going out in public dressed up in a weird costume. Even on Halloween, when you're definitely not the only one. Because that's always the fear; That you will literally be the only one. That gnawing feeling in your stomach you get until the very relieving moment when you see someone else dressed up and you know that you are not alone.

It's pretty horrible.

Especially when this is your first "college party", you know? You don't want to be forever known as "the girl who dressed up like a Playboy bunny". I'm suddenly reminded of Legally Blonde, but it's a good point. Elle could handle it. Heck, I could probably even handle something like that. Rogue on the other hand? This is not something she would be okay with.

And it's not even like she was dressed up like a Playboy bunny. She was a maid. More specifically, the housekeeper from Rocky Horror Picture Show known as Magenta. So realistically, she should have been okay. But she wasn't. She was a ball of nerves.

"Chill out." I rolled my eyes at her quickly, trying to stay focused on checking my makeup in the rear view mirror as Rogue was creeping along the street trying to find a place to park, "It'll be fine."

"This was a bad idea." She mumbled, "Why did I let you talk me into dressing up?"

"I look more ridiculous than you." I shifted the mirror back and gestured to myself, "Look at me."

She let out a long suffering sigh and nodded, "True."

"A top hat, short shorts and fishnets? All these sequins? I could easily be mistaken for a lady of the night. Or a drag queen. Or both."

"I guess..." Rogue continued to nod reluctantly, "It'll be okay. Right?"

"Totally." I reassured her as she shifted the car into park and undid her seat belt, "You look great Rogue. Just relax."

She pursed her lips and snatched the little hat that I'd made her to go on top of her wild hair. I'm all about costume accuracy. This is something I had to explain multiple times to Pete while I was getting ready and he suggested I find a higher cut sequined corset. You know, just go down to the corset store and see if they had any lying around.

Plus, I have my gold tuxedo jacket on, it's not like I'm naked.

Men.

Anyways, Rogue seemed to visibly relax a little bit when we got on campus and finally saw that everyone else had dressed up too, and that she most certainly did not look out of place. In fact, she blended right in. Her next hurdle was all the people. It's not like it was obscenely crowded or anything, but as you can understand, Rogue doesn't deal well with crowds of any sort.

Rogue shot out a breath and glanced around quickly and I could tell she was antsy, "I could use a drink."

I rolled my eyes, "Rogue, there is no drinking on campus."

Her head snapped towards me and she gaped, "Dammit! Why didn't you tell me that before?! I would have been way less receptive to this whole dressing up nonsense had I known that."

"And that's exactly why I didn't tell you."

Duh. I mean, Rogue might be a 21 year old freshman, but I'm only 20. And I do not advocate under age drinking, kids.

"This is college. There is definitely drinking on campus, Francy Follows-the-Rules."

"Uhh, not when you're at a school funded party, Roguey Absorbed-Logan-Too-Many-Times."

When she continued to scowl at me I rolled my eyes, "Look, if you seriously need booze to get you through one night of socializing, you might need to look into getting involved in some 12 step programs. You'll be fine. Unclench."

We found a relatively good spot to hang out in the student lounge, close to the refreshments but somewhat out of the way since Rogue would flinch every time someone even remotely came near her. I got her a Sprite and told her it was spiked. You know, the placebo effect. I don't think she believed me, but she didn't question it, and she seemed to calm down a little bit.

The entire Student Lounge was lit by multi coloured lights instead of the normal bulbs we're used to seeing, and Halloween decorations had been hung everywhere, transforming the area into a weird, disco haunted house. Like, the Addams Family goes to Studio 54. Rogue silently chewed on the straw in her drink as her eyes scanned our surroundings, mentally sizing everyone up

"Jesus, people suck at costumes." She snorted as she observed a group of five girls not far away from us who were all dancing together.

I nodded, because she was right. Half of the people there either didn't understand the concept of a costume, or just didn't care. You can't wear a Batman t-shirt and go around saying you're Batman. That's stupid. I was about to tell her as much when my eye caught a familiar looking Doctor Who.

"Doug!" I called out suddenly, and I'm pretty sure I scared Rogue in the process. Which was pretty funny.

He looked over at us and blinked blankly for a second before recognition set in and he smiled, "I barely even recognized you!"

"Doug, this is my bestie Rogue." I said with a grin, knowing full well that Rogue hates the word 'bestie', "Rogue, this is one of my instructors-"

"Ohh, this is the _Conductor_ guy." Rogue cut in, "Grad student right? Kitty talks about you all the time."

I rolled my eyes. Rogue enjoys trying to embarrass me. This shouldn't be news to anyone. Thankfully Doug didn't take the bait and gave Rogue a happy nod,

"That's right, I'm Conductor Doug. All aboard! Next stop knowledge!" He announced as he pretended to tug on a train whistle. "Nope, I just heard it. I think I took it too far."

I snort laughed and Rogue's eyes rolled upwards, very much the same way she does when I say something stupid.

"So what are you supposed to be?" She raised an eyebrow at his blue pinstripe suit and long brown coat, "A teacher?"

"He's Doctor Who, Rogue. Duh."

"Just because _you_ watch it, doesn't mean I pay attention." Rogue muttered.

"You look awesome, I love Doctor Who." I grinned and furrowed my brow, "... Are you wearing a wig?"

"Yeah, and fake sideburns," He smoothed a hand down one of the glued on strips of hair and smiled, "Sweet, right?"

I laughed, "Totally."

"Well, you guys look great." Doug looked between the two of us with a grin, "I'm pretty sure I saw a Dr. Frank n' Furter walking around here." He looked back over his shoulder and knit his brow, "It might have been Cher."

Even Rogue laughed at that one.

"Anyways, I gotta jet." He frowned back at us, "I'm looking for my roommate. Whenever he's at a party he tends to try to do things... for money."

Rogue grimaced, "Like a prostitute?!"

"No, like... dares. One time he tried to eat an entire 8 foot sub on his own." Doug shook his head sadly, "That was a _bad_ night."

Rogue frowned, "That's disgusting."

"Tell me about it." He agreed, "So, I kind of feel like he needs supervision, but he snuck away from me when I went to the bathroom." Doug rolled his eyes and let out a breath, "If you happen to see a guy who looks like Michael Cera in Juno, shoot me a text, would you?"

I let out a laugh, "Seriously, that's his costume?"

"No, it's not. But that's definitely what it looks like." Doug gave us a wave before taking off to look for his poorly costumed, irresponsible roommate.

Rogue sipped on her Sprite for a moment before sliding her eyes to me, "He gave you his number?"

"Huh?"

"_Doug_, or whatever." She tossed a hand in the direction that he'd gone off in, "You have his number."

"Yeah, so?" I shrugged, sensing that Rogue was going to make this mole hill into a mountain.

"Does Pete know?" She asked with this look of mock innocence as she took another sip of her beverage.

"Oh please, it's totally not like that." I rolled my eyes, because it's so not. "He suggested I do some volunteer work. It looks good on your resume and apparently the program is dying for more help. So I agreed and we exchanged numbers, for work purposes, that's all."

Rogue frowned, "Volunteer work? What, like in a hospital or something?"

"No, with computers. There's a course offered through the library on weekends for seniors, helping them learn the basics of computers. I figured I've already got lots of experience in that area, so why not."

"Logan." Rogue gave me a knowing nod and I smiled,

"Exactly. Anyways, the girl who used to help Doug out with it had a baby or something." I shrugged, "So he's going to let me know when the program starts back up."

She was nodding absently and I could tell that I'd lost her focus. We mingled a little bit, somewhat unsuccessfully. As shocking as this may be to all of you, I'm not exactly a social butterfly. I never know what to talk about when I meet people and I always come across as some kind of female Rain Man. Rogue says this is because while I may be outgoing, I'm primarily an introvert.

I effing rue the day I suggested she take that psych class, I totally _rue_ it.

As we were dancing -and by we, I mean I- I noticed some shirtless hot fireman guy casually check Rogue out as he passed us by. I pointed this out to her once the fireman guy had stopped at the refreshment table and she gave me the cutest little smile.

It's pretty easy to forget how truly innocent Rogue is when it comes to this kind of stuff.

"You should go talk to him."

"You think?" She glanced back at the hot fireman, "Are you sure he was looking at me?"

"Uh, yes." I raised an eyebrow, "You're a dime, Rogue. Own it."

She let out a breath and nodded reluctantly as she mentally psyched herself up.

"Okay, so what you want to do is-"

"I don't need pointers from you Kitty." Rogue rolled her eyes, "No offense, but you are not sexy."

Oh yeah, no offense taken.

"Screw you, I'm _so_ sexy."

"Yeah well, I think I can manage on my own, thanks." She downed the rest of her Sprite, thrusting the empty cup towards me, "I got this."

I watched her do a few deep breaths before turning on her heel and strolling over to the refreshment table to give the hot fireman guy a winning smile, "Hey."

He turned to her, gave her a once over and returned her smile, "Hey. Nice costume."

"Thanks, you too." She looked down at his naked torso and nodded, "You're... a fireman?"

"Yeah." He said, casually crossing his arms, obviously to accentuate his muscles. Men are so predictable.

"Where's your shirt?" Rogue continued to grin.

"I don't have one. It's not part of the costume."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow, "That's... kind of stupid though, don't you think?" She snorted, "I mean, you know... you get called into a burning building, and you're completely unprotected? Your flesh will basically melt off. But hey, at least you got a helmet on!"

I did a mental face palm.

"It's just... for the ladies." He explained quickly.

"Ah yes." Rogue backpedaled, remembering that she was supposed to be trying to be sexy, "I can see that you have very nice... uh, definition. There. In your chest... ular area." She cleared her throat, gesturing towards his chestular area. Another mental facepalm.

Fireman flexed his bicep and gave her a wink, "You like that?"

"Oh wow, look at those guns." She nodded appreciatively, "You could do some damage with those, for sure. I bet you could crush someone's windpipe or something."

Hot Fireman pursed his lips into a thin smile and walked away. He didn't even give a reason, he just left. Rogue turned back to me and blinked.

"Okay, it's okay." I shook my head, looking around quickly to make sure that nobody actually witnessed Rogue's embarrassing display. "You were totally right, by the way. His costume was incredibly impractical."

Rogue let out a deep breath and smoothed her hands over the front of her costume. "Totally."

"You need to jump back on the horse" I informed her, "Just, pick someone and go flirt."

"Obviously I _can't_." She frowned at me, "I sounded like _you_ back there."

"Why don't you try... you know... mimicry?"

She cut her eyes to me impatiently and I waved a hand towards the group of girls dressed up as different types of sluts, "You know. Copy them."

She looked at the sluts and shot out a breath, "Yeah. Alright." She cracked her neck and nodded, "Piece of cake."

I'm going to be entirely honest here; I'm not the best person to help Rogue with flirting. I'm just not. I manage alright when I need to, but otherwise, I come off as the female Rain Man again. I think my saving grace with Pete is that he's never seen Rain Man, and that he finds my quirkiness endearing. Bless his heart.

Rogue nodded confidently before strolling back over to the snacks and giving some guy dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow and eating a bag of Cheetos, her bright smile.

"Hay!"

Jack Sparrow smiled back, but before he could say anything Rogue twirled a finger through one of his dreadlocks, "Pirates are _so_ awesome."

"What are you, a zombie maid?"

Rogue then did something which I will forever hold over her head, until the day she dies. She did the Julia Roberts laugh.

You know, the one from the scene in Pretty Woman, when Richard Gere snaps the necklace box down on her fingers? And Julia Roberts lets out that over the top, bark laugh?

That is what Rogue did.

"Wow, Cheetos!" She said as she plucked a Cheeto out of the bag pressed her lips together, "Cheetos are so hot."

"Are they?" Jack Sparrow asked, with a funny look in his eye.

"Oh, they _totally_ are." She gushed before slipping it past her lips with a wink, "Mmmm..."

"My girlfriend thinks so too."

Rogue's shoulders slumped a little and she rolled her eyes dramatically, "Of course."

"You might like her," Jack Sparrow grinned and leaned in towards Rogue a tiny bit, "She'd probably be open to having a threesome with a zombie maid."

"I'm not an (effing) zombie maid, you moron." Rogue snapped, slapping the bag of Cheetos out of his hand before spinning around and stomping back to me.

I pursed my lips for a moment before knitting my brow, "That was _better_... at least..."

She crossed her arms and huffed at me.

"Maybe try being less surly." I suggested.

Rogue pressed her lips together and mumbled something unintelligible. I turned my attention to the dance floor and watched everyone dancing gleefully. I could have been one of those people. Instead, I was spending time with Rogue the grouch, who needed some pancakes now more than ever.

I'm so serious guys, she's my home girl, but she's totally been a grump lately.

They even had a karaoke machine at the other end of the student lounge. I could have been doing karaoke.

"I guess I never really realized how much I suck at this flirting shit." She grumbled, "Remy did all the flirting."

"And then some." I rolled my eyes, "I'm gunna go get another drink. Want some Cheetos?" I asked with a huge grin.

She gave me a scowl and I laughed my way over to the snack bar. I got myself a drink and turned to head back to Rogue, only to see some guy dressed horribly as The Joker from Dark Knight, trying to smile and get Rogue's attention. And when I say horribly dressed, I mean it. He was wearing a green t-shirt and had some white makeup smeared on his face and that was it. But at least he looked kind of cute underneath the stupid makeup, so that's kind of a plus.

It was pretty hard to hear with the music and the distance and everything, but I managed to hear him clear his throat and say, "Hi... Rogue, right?"

Rogue's eyes cut to him. She gave him a cautious once over and knit her brow, "Yes."

"It's... I'm Chad. We're in Marketing together."

Rogue pressed her lips together and I could tell she was trying to place him in her mind, "Sure..." She said eventually, obviously still having no idea who this Chad guy was, "Marketing."

"That's a great zombie maid costume." He smiled innocently.

Rogue let out a sigh and gave him a resigned nod, "Thanks."

"Well, my roommate bailed-"

"_Shhhhhhh!_" I shushed Doug as he came to a stop next to me with a drink in his hand. He followed my line of sight and lowered his voice to a whisper,

"What are we watching?"

"Rogue is trying to flirt." I summarized quickly, keeping my eyes on my poor poor bestie. She was kind of smiling, so I took that as a good sign."

"...Trying?"

I turned to Doug and knit my brow, "She's... not the greatest. It's not really her fault, she just got out of a pretty serious relationship."

"Oh."

"So your roommate bailed?"

"Yeah," He gave me a one shouldered shrug, "He probably escaped to one of the parties that actually serve alcohol. I tried my best."

"Oooo look! She's touching his arm!" I pointed excitedly, "She's touching his arm and he's not staring at her like she said something stupid!"

"Does she normally say stupid things, or is this just part of her flirting trouble?" Doug knit his brow as he took a drink from his red cup.

"Flirting trouble." I sighed, "She's normally pretty awesome, but for some reason flirting turns her into a bitchy version of me."

Doug looked very amused by this and cocked his head to the side, "What exactly is a bitchy version of you?"

"Oh you know, awkward, says goofy things, falls asleep in class..."

"Hey, you only did that _once_."

I laughed with an abrupt snort, "That _you_ know of."

He looked back to Rogue and winced, "Oh wow, did she just do a Julia Roberts laugh?"

I nodded sadly, "Yep."

"Hobo Joker stuck around after the Julia Roberts laugh." Doug said with an impressed nod, "She might have found a keeper there."

I began to laugh again, because seriously. Hobo Joker is the perfect description.

"God I hope so." I said through my laughter, "She's started inviting herself along on dates with me and my boyfriend. And Pete's a pretty patient guy, so he actually tolerates it. Plus, it probably makes him look like he's got two girlfriends..." I thought about that for a moment, "That's _exactly_ why he tolerates it..."

"Ahh the _boyfriend_. Is he here? Wait don't tell me..." Doug smiled_,_ narrowing his eyes and scanning the party, "Mr. Bed Linens Toga guy? Super original costume by the way."

I let out an offended scoff, "As if. He's wearing socks and sandals Doug. I don't date guys who wear socks and sandals, I just don't."

"Okay, so not Toga guy. How about Avatar over there?" He pointed towards some guy dressed up in a frighteningly accurate Avatar costume and I cringed.

It looked way too close to Kurt for my liking.

"_No_."

"It's definitely one of those guys, right?" He gestured towards two guys who had dressed up as the SNL Dick in a Box duo.

I couldn't even answer, because I was laughing too hard.

"Stop!" I said between laughs, "No! Pete is not here!"

"Are you sure? Because I really feel you have a connection with the one Dick in a Box guy."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." I gave him an exaggerated eye roll, "Halloween isn't really Pete's thing. I tried to get him to dress up as Eddie from Rocky Horror Picture Show. You know, Columbia's boyfriend."

"Meatloaf." He nodded and took a drink.

"Exactly! But he declined. He would do anything for love, but he won't do that."

And Doug choked on his beverage. A clear indication that not only did he get my Meatloaf joke (Google "I would do anything for love" kids.) but also that he is incredibly awesome. I had said that joke to 5 people that evening, and he is literally the only person to get it. Which makes him awesome.

"So is there a Miss. Doug the Conductor here? I assume she would be dressed up as your Tardis."

Doctor Who reference, guys.

"No." Doug said, once he'd finished laughing over my hilarious joke. Seriously guys, I hope you all can appreciate how amazing that joke was, "Actually, I just broke up with my girlfriend a few weeks ago."

My eyebrows puckered and I frowned, "Aww, I'm sorry."

He shrugged and took another drink.

"Wait, is that why you wore sweatpants for an entire week a while back?"

"Yep." He sighed, "She was older, and we didn't have much in common. Prime example, I bought us tickets to go see Weird Al in a few months... which I now have to try and sell on Craigslist. And I know what you're thinking; No, that is not why she dumped me." He grinned, "I don't think."

I smiled back at him and shook my head firmly, "Are you kidding me? I would never say such a stupid thing, I love Weird Al."

"Seriously?" He asked skeptically, "Because it's not cool to make fun of a guy after he's been dumped. I'm pretty sure there's an unspoken rule about it."

"I'm _totally_ being serious! Amish Paradise, All About the Pentiums, White and Nerdy, Eat It..." I trailed off and shook my head, "He's basically amazing."

He let out another sigh and I could kind of tell that reminiscing about his breakup was bringing him down, even though he visibly didn't want to admit it.

I knit my brow and pursed my lips, "Listen, don't sell your tickets. They're totally hard to come by... and I'm positive you'll find someone to go with by then."

The corner of his mouth tugged up, "Thanks."

"I'm serious." I said with a confident nod, "I think you need to lead with the Conductor Doug thing more though. Women really dig men of authority. And Conductors have those little striped hats, so that's kind of like a uniform. Which is totally another plus."

"I could _definitely_ pick up women wearing a Conductors hat." Doug agreed, "I could use some pretty awful pickup lines..."

"I'll think of some and get back to you." I promised as I noticed Rogue heading back to us with a grin.

"I did it bitches!" She announced, thrusting a napkin with a phone number written on it in front of my face, "I got his number!"

I gave her a proud fist bump as I inspected the napkin, "I totes knew you could do it."

"He gave _you_ his number?" Doug asked with a quirked eyebrow, "I mean... there's nothing wrong with that, but normally it's the other way around."

"Yeah," Rogue shot out a breath, "He seemed a little needy and incredibly anxious to give me his number, but frankly I just don't care. I'm tired of paying for my own dinner dammit."

"That seems like a good reason to date someone." I gave Doug a wry grin, "Free food."

"Just think, one day, you could be telling this very story to your children." Rogue cut her eyes to Doug and he gave her an innocent smile.

"Ahh yes." I said with a dreamy sigh, "It started out as a way to get free dinners and it quickly developed into the whirlwind romance of a lifetime."

"Little did she know, she would be wiping away that white face makeup with cold cream every night for the rest of her life..."

Rogue looked from Doug to me before closing her eyes and letting out a breath, "Holy God, there's two of you."

Doug and I laughed together at Rogue before my face lit up with a brilliant idea, "Hey!" I clapped my hands together in front of me, "Wanna go Karaoke with me? I'm totally not drunk this time!"

"No." Rogue replied flatly, "Absolutely not. There's not enough alcohol in the world."

"Interesting fact," Doug interjected, "Did you know that the word Karaoke, comes from the Japanese words _kara_ and _ōkesutora,_ which literally translates to empty orchestra?"

I snort laughed at him and shook my head, "You're such a dork!"

"What! It's a fun anecdote!" He turned to Rogue for some backup. Not wise, Doug. "You didn't know that right?"

Rogue blinked at him and pressed her lips together before turning back to me, "Oookay, I have enough trouble hanging out with one Kitty, I cannot handle two. I'm gunna go wait in the car."

And off she went, trudging through the party with her head down and her newly acquired phone number balled up in her fist, leaving Doug and myself to Karaoke alone.

Rogue is seriously over reacting. I mean, we might have a few similarities, but Doug and I are not that much alike.

Except I totally did know that _empty orchestra_ thing. But that's just because I'm awesome.

* * *

_A/N- I'm trying to think of a pithy way to beg for reviews, but unfortunately my brain power has been pretty much entirely dedicated to attempting to get the next chapter of _The New Girl_ finished before my family and I go away for the summer. It's not going so well. So... I could really use some happy reviews to cheer me up.  
Also, this may be the last chapter for a little while, depending on how much time I'll have to write whilst away. I'm not promising anything, but I'll definitely continue to try my best. __  
_

_Please review! _


	8. Dating Protocol, Brah

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number eight:**

The day after Halloween is always a crapshoot at the mansion. You never really know what to expect until you venture down to the kitchen and witness it for yourself. One year everything is completely normal, and the next, people are all hungover and cranky as they avoid the wrath of Logan.

This year was somewhere in between. Due to the fact that the manor is located a the end of a VERY long driveway, the professor always gets too much candy, because nobody actually wants to walk all the way to the end just for a stupid piece of candy. Even though ol'Chuck doesn't cheap out... He actually gets the full sized bars.

All this only means that we end up with a crap load of leftover full-sized chocolate bars. And since Amara has been uh... Preparing for hibernation apparently... She'd gotten a pretty large head start in making a nice dent in our stash.

For breakfast.

This only served to piss Jubes and Bobby off because let's face it, nobody really expected Amara to eat 5 chocolate bars before 8 am, and in retaliation, they began scarfing down as many as they could, just to make sure they got some before they were all gone.

As if they were the last chocolate bars ever to be made on earth. Idiots.

So upon seeing the chocolate wars going on in the kitchen, I took my mini box of Fruit Loops to the rec room, which was already occupied by a handful of people with the same idea as me. Jamie was curled up in the back corner working on a book report which was basically due yesterday, Tabby and Ray were sitting on the love seat, each with a coffee in their hand, each one ignoring the other as per usual. Alex was laying with his legs slung across the arm of the chair across from Ray and Tabby, slurping up a bowl of cereal as if he was raised by wolves. And then there was Pete, who had saved me a spot on the couch, the big sweetheart.

I curled up next to him with my mini box of cereal and snuggled in as he dropped his arm around my shoulders,

"In a _giant_ mood today?" He smiled down at me, referring of course to the mini box of cereal and how it made me feel like a giant.

I grinned as I broke open the box, "You betcha babe."

"How was your night?"

"Good, I guess. I mean, it wasn't the best party I've ever been to, it was basically over by ten thirty, but I had fun." I said as I popped a few Fruit Loops into my mouth. "Rogue met a guy."

Pete raised an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to elaborate. I understand that he and Remy are going through a rough patch in their bromance, but Pete totally still cares.

"Threat level, zero. I'm not even exaggerating, this guy was dressed up in the worst Joker costume. Doug called him Hobo Joker." I snort laughed at the memory. It was still funny the next day.

"Doug?" Pete knit his brow for a moment, "This is your instructor, yes?"

"Mmhmm." I nodded, plopping a few more Fruit Loops in my mouth.

"Is that... I did not think it was appropriate for teachers to attend parties with their students." He frowned.

"Oh, no Doug's not a teacher exactly. He's a grad student. I told you all this already, didn't I?" I ate a few more Fruit Loops and continued, "Anyways, thank God he was there too, Rogue was no fun. She wouldn't even Karaoke with me."

"We all know how much you like Karaoke, ain't that right babelini?" Alex said with a wide grin which I chose to ignore. I swear, you get drunk and make out with the guy once, and he will not let you forget it.

"Fun fact: Did you know that Karaoke means _empty orchestra i_n Japanese?" I asked, causing Pete to smirk at my attempted rodeo clown.

"Your definition of fun is mad lame-o." Alex commented from the peanut gallery.

"Doug told me that. It was super nice of him to hang out with me after Rogue bailed to sit in the car like a loner." I rolled my eyes, "She really needs to loosen up a bit."

"Oh yeah," Tabby scoffed, "It was _so_ kind of him to hang out with the cute girl in the tiny sparkly corset all night long. He's basically a Saint."

"As if. He's not like that." I frowned back at Pete, "He's not."

"Chyea." Alex said through a mouthful of cereal, "He's a man, babelini. We're all like that. Plus, I saw you in those short shorts... He was definitely doing it to get a piece of that."

Pete looked like he was going to say something in response to Alex, but I beat him to the punch,

"There is such a thing as a nice guy." I snipped back at him, "And you're dripping milk all over your shirt, moron."

"Aw man!" He sat upright and wiped at the milk with his hand, "This is a Hollister Original!"

I'm not exactly sure if he thought that milk would stain or something, it's always hard to tell where Alex is coming from. I think he got smacked in the head by a flying surfboard a few too many times.

Rogue walked in with an apple, wilting a little bit when she saw all the people in the rec room. She's definitely not a people and or morning person.

"Hey." She flopped down on the couch next to me and Pete, taking a bite of her apple, "What's going on?"

"Alex ruined his shirt with milk." I informed her with a smirk.

"Damn it, I only have three more in this cut." He snapped as he angrily wiped his shirt off with a throw pillow, "It's been discontinued!"

Rogue rolled her eyes and took another bite of apple, choosing not to pull at that thread.

"I was just about to tell Pete about Chad..." I smiled.

"Oh." She nodded, reaching for the remote and pulling up the DVR list, "Did anyone manage to record _Young Frankenstein_ last night?"

"Chad? He sounds like a cowboy or something." Tabby grinned, "You gunna take cowboy Chad for a ride, Rogue?"

Ray's face scrunched up and he turned to look at Tabby, "A cowboy name?! What are you (effing) stupid? Chad is not a cowboy name."

I have to agree with Ray, I have never heard of a cowboy named Chad before in my entire life.

Tabby rolled her eyes and gave her head a shake, "Whatever. The important part is; Is he sexy?"

Rogue knit her brow thoughtfully for a moment before giving a shrug, "It was kind of hard to tell through stupid costume. Looked like a seven though."

"That's respectable." Tabby nodded, "I mean, you need a pallet cleanse after screwing someone like Remy. You can't follow that act with anything higher than an eight."

I felt dirty just for being in the presence of this conversation and I heard Pete utter a small sigh, which led me to believe he was thinking something similar.

Rogue turned to me with a frown, "When am I supposed to call him?"

"He gave you _his_ number?" Alex snorted, "Nancy..."

"Just call him whenever." I shrugged, "Who cares?"

"No way." Alex cut in before Rogue could respond, "You wait three days. It's normal protocol. Three days, brah."

"What? That is stupid Alex." I frowned at him, "She can call him whenever the hell she wants to."

"I'm tellin' you Jem. I know these things. You call too soon, you seem desperate. You wait too long, the bunnies lose interest. Three days, is the magic ass number."

"I hate it when a guy calls me right away." Tabby added, "Alex is right, he seems desperate."

I heard Pete let out a breath, "It does not matter when you call. You are not the _desperate_ one, he is." He said, ignoring the way I turned to look back at him with a look of slight bewilderment, "He gave you his number, and I am assuming you did not _ask_ for it, and he did not wait for you to give him yours. He jumped the gun. It is your move."

My eyebrows perked up as I stared at him and he shrugged, still ignoring me,

"Besides, no man is going to complain about an attractive woman calling them_ too soon_." He added with an eye roll.

"Huh." Rogue knit her brow thoughtfully before nodding, "Pete's right."

"Of course I am right." He said in a very uncharacteristic way, turning his attention back to the TV. I blinked at him with my mouth hanging slightly agape like an idiot.

He _was_ right.

I had no idea that Pete had any type of insight into the dating game. I guess we'd never really discussed what his dating life was like prior to him meeting me... part of me just likes to pretend that he was celibate. Ignorance is bliss, right? However, it kind of made me wonder what other things he'd been holding back...

"Wow." Tabby commented, propping her chin up on her fist with a gooey grin, "Petey... I'm actually impressed."

He pressed his lips into a thin line and kept his eyes on the TV. He hates it when Tabby calls him that, this much I know.

"Whatever brah." Alex said with a look of disdain, "Are you gunna listen to the big kahuna, or this ol' kook? I know my shit."

"Pete just called me an attractive woman, and you just called me _brah_." Rogue narrowed her eyes at Alex, "Who do you think I'm gunna listen to?"

"I feel like this is a trick question-"

I kicked Alex in the side and he shut up.

"I don't understand why it's so taboo for a guy to give out his number." Rogue commented honestly as she chomped on her apple, "Doug said the same thing last night, and yet, Tweedle Dee gave _you_ his number." She continued to chew happily, totally oblivious to the way that Pete had turned to stare at me, "You should have seen the two of them last night, I couldn't handle it. (Effing) Dumb and Dumber... You wanna talk about cut from the same cloth..." She snorted and took another bite of her apple, finally realizing the silence.

"What?" She asked with a mouthful of apple.

Thanks Rogue.

"Dayum." Alex shook his head, "I'm impressed Jem... I really am."

"It's totally not the same." I began, turning to Pete with an eye roll, "He asked me to do some volunteer work on the weekends, and I figured since you were so busy at the art studio, I might as well do something productive with my free time."

Tabby pressed her lips together into a thin smile and looked at Ray, "Likely story."

"It's not a _likely story_, it's the truth." I snapped at her before turning back to Pete, "It's not like he pulled a Carly Rae Jepsen on me or anything. He gave me his number so we could go over the material. It's strictly for business purposes, Pete."

He pressed his lips into a smile, "It is fine, Katya."

"Don't you see him like every other day in class?" Tabby asked with a furrowed brow on her stupid face.

I blinked at her before frowning, "Well... yeah, but-"

"You'd think he'd be able to track you down once in a while to discuss this _material_." Alex grinned, "Maybe take you out to lunch. Buy you a few drinks, you know, for _business purposes_."

"Yeah, maybe you could discuss business over some pancakes..." Ray added with a wicked smile which caused both Tabby and Alex to start laughing.

It's been like 8 months since they "discovered" my first blog, and they're still using the pancake euphemism. I'm not sure if I should be proud, or annoyed.

"Leave Kitty the (eff) alone already. First of all, the guy's her _teacher_." Rogue cut in, turning to Pete with a frown, "Secondly, he's really not that kind of guy, Pete. He's not sleazy like that, he's basically the opposite of Alex. I _really_ don't think he meant anything by it."

Pete let out a breath, "It's _fine_." He repeated.

I know that Pete is very aware of how sometimes I can be a little bit... oblivious. This picture of Doug that Tabby, Ray and Alex had painted for Pete, could very well be out to jump my bones, and frankly, I probably would be none the wiser. Remember when I thought Remy had the hots for me?

Yeah, that.

So I can understand if Pete were concerned. But I can say with 100% confidence that Doug is _just_ my friend. And that is it. He's very respectful of the fact that I have a boyfriend, and he would never ask me out for any kind of pancakes.

I craned my neck to look up at him and knit my brow, "I swear, it's really not a big deal."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he gave me a small nod, "I trust you, Katya."

"Alright, so just out of curiosity, where exactly does this Doug guy rate on the scale of sexiness." Tabby asked, "If Kit Kats not gunna nail him then maybe I can."

"Gross!"

"He's probably about an eight actually. Pretty nice. But personality wise he's like, a two. He opens his mouth up and I want to punch him in the face." Rogue turned back to Pete and rolled her eyes, "No threat."

"That's okay, I'm not much into talking anyways." Tabby shrugged.

My mouth dropped open and I gaped at Rogue angrily, "You just got finished saying how alike we are. Thanks, a-hole."

"Yeah, and as a romantic companion, you probably really suck. Pete deserves a medal or something." Rogue shook her head and went back to her apple.

I looked back at Pete, still utterly offended, and he gave a small shrug, "You have grown on me." He said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes as he planted a kiss on my head, just to make sure I knew he was joking. Which I totally did.

I am super loveable. I _am_.

Rogue found Young Frankenstein on the DVR list and started it up, as per our yearly tradition, and settled down into the couch, tucking her feet up beneath her, when out of nowhere we hear,

"Who's Carly Rae Jepsen?"

We all turned around to see Jamie looking up from his work in the corner of the room.

We'd all forgotten about him.

"She sings that stupid song." Rogue replied, looking back to the TV, "Don't worry about it Jamie. Go back to work."

"It's not stupid, it's awesome." Ray scoffed, "I have her CD, I'll lend it to you sometime, Jamie."

"Ew, you have her CD?" Tabby asked, leaning a tiny bit away from Ray as if his bad taste could rub off on her.

"She's a really good lyricist." He said defensively.

Oh Ray, no she's not. And now I have that stupid song in my head. I'm blaming Canada... thanks Canada. Like Nickleback and Bieber weren't bad enough.

* * *

A/N: Such amazing reviews! Wow! You guys truly are awesome! And every single one is so appreciated. Kitty and I look forward to more from you guys!


	9. Trust Issues

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number nine:**

Rogue and Hobo Joker have officially started dating.

I'm not sure if you can say "dating" since it's only been one date so far, but that's what I'm saying. I guess that would make her his Hobo Harley Quinn?

Oh most definitely.

Anyways, they went on their first date yesterday, and according to Rogue, it was sort of rough. Apparently Chad isn't exactly a... talker. He's kind of boring. I mean, Rogue's not exactly a talker either, which is why she and I get along so well, since I fill the talking void, but when you get two non-talkers on a first date... it can get pretty weird. She actually said that at one point, she was so bored that she wanted to stab herself in the hand with a fork just to make sure she didn't fall asleep.

She's such a drama queen.

That being said, I took pity on her, and offered Pete and I up to go on a double date for their second soiree, because I really don't want her to try the fork thing. It'd be even worse if she tried to stab Hobo Joker, but it'd give the guy something to talk about.

You know... "You wanna know how I got these scars...?"

Dark Knight reference, crushed it.

This all being said, my bestie told me these things in confidence. So I kept my mouth shut. I know, it's pretty shocking to you all, but I'm classy like that. When my bestie tells me a secret, I usually don't tell anyone. Like 80% of the time. But I would especially never tell Remy. Which is why I was so shocked to see him when we got home from school that day, hanging out in the rec. room with Pete, chatting away about how best to jack up a truck.

You know, stupid guy talk.

I mean seriously, you'd think that these guys were actually planning on jacking up a truck, the way they were so deep in discussion. I realize that you guys are probably confused by the fact that they're actually speaking to one another, what with this "disagreement" over Remy's recent career choices, but this is actually pretty normal. They hang out, they just don't talk about important stuff. They talk about dumb things, torquing engines, where to find the best burger, weather patterns in tornado alley, the current standings of sports teams neither one of them care about, and try to ignore the awkward elephant in the room.

Anyways, Remy's presence was shocking because it seemed like maybe too much of a coincidence. You know? And I began thinking that maybe Remy was some type of magician after all. First he's able to track me down and worm some lunch out of me on a regular basis, and now ~*~poof~*~ here he is, less than 24 hours after Rogue has her first date with this guy that he _supposedly_ doesn't even know about?

Rogue and I stopped in the doorway of the rec room with our bags still slung on our shoulders, watching Pete and Remy discuss different types of rims until Remy noticed us in the doorway.

"Hey." Rogue said, trying her darnedest to look completely unaffected by his presence, "What's goin' on?"

"Came to pick up that costume." Remy explained, "Unless you were still planning on _using_ it."

Rogue rolled her eyes at his implication and crossed her arms, "I'll go get it."

He watched her leave as I crossed the living room, dumping my bag on the floor and sitting down on the coffee table across from Pete, and once she was no longer in his line of vision he turned to me.

"So, how was the party?"

I shrugged, sensing Pete watching how I chose to respond, since blabbing to Remy about Rogue's new boy toy would not only be poor taste, but would also be meddling.

Which apparently, I do a lot of.

"It was alright, I guess."

"Just alright?" Remy raised an eyebrow, "You ain't gunna start gushin' about your new bff...?"

I knit my brow at him silently for a moment before cocking my head, "Huh?"

Remy smiled at me knowingly, "I mean, I understand if you didn't wanna tell me about Rogue's date, but I thought for sure you'd fill me in on singing Karaoke. Sober, this time, I'm assuming."

I let out a breath and my shoulders sagged as I looked at Pete, "You _told_ him."

"No, I did not tell him." Pete shrugged defensively, "Rogue's love life is none of my business."

"Amara told me." Remy stated, leaning back into the couch with his hands behind his head, "She just couldn't _wait_ to send me that text."

It's true, Amara is a gossipy goose. I just wasn't aware that her gossip distribution had crossed over into the digital world. Not that I'm one to judge. Ahem.

Remy furrowed his brow at me, and I could tell he was slightly pissed that I hadn't told him about the date. But it's not like we've had any lunch dates since the Halloween party, and it's not like I _owe_ him any heads up in this area.

I rolled my eyes and decided to humour him a little, "His name is Chad-"

"Chad." He snorted.

"-and he's very nice." I finished, deciding it was best to leave out the stuff about him being so boring that it required self mutilation to withstand a night in his company.

"Nice?" Remy smiled, "I give it a week."

"They're already planning their second date." I informed him.

"So _two_ weeks then." Remy rolled his eyes, "My point is that Rogue doesn't like _nice_."

"Everyone likes nice, Remy."

"It's bland. She needs a little bit of spice." He said with a wink, "She likes the Cajun spice."

I grimaced, "Ugh, you did not just say that-"

"Nice ain't gunna do it for her. She probably won't even put out for him." He concluded, disgustingly.

"Like I said before, everyone likes nice." I flipped a hand towards Pete to make my point.

Remy looked at Pete before looking back at me with a smirk, "Pete ain't entirely nice."

"Your _face_ isn't entirely nice."

"Well that's just a lie." Remy scoffed.

"Watch, I'll prove it." I turned to Pete with a sweet smile, "I have a favor to ask you Petey Pie."

Pete sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, "I wish you two would leave me out of your arguments-"

"I told Rogue that we would go on a double date with her and Chad. You're okay with that, right?"

He pressed his mouth into a thin line, which I took to mean that he wasn't entirely okay with it, but he was too _nice_ to say so.

"He likes cars. You'll totally get along." I added, just to kind of sweeten the pot. I know, I'm a bad pot sweetener.

"He likes cars." Remy let out a condescending sniff, "That could mean anything, minette."

"Uh, no... I'm pretty sure it means _he likes cars_." I rolled my eyes back at him.

Remy turned to Pete and gave him a nod, "Back me up here. You know what I'm talkin' about. Liking cars and knowing your shit about them... two different things. Pyro _liked cars_. He liked watching them blow up."

I let out a breath, "Chad does not like watching cars blow up."

"He sounds pretty boring to me, then." Remy informed me with a snarky little smirk. Damn him, he was right. Because everyone likes watching cars blow up.

"Whatever, go back to talking about your stupid dream truck." I grumbled, feeling my phone vibrate in my back pocket. "Naked lady mud flaps and camo print roll bars..."

I pulled my phone out to indicate that Remy could stop talking to me, and he and Pete went back to their version of small talk.

I let out an abrupt laugh when I read the text message that Doug had sent me, realizing as I was thumb typing my response that both Remy and Pete had stopped their discussion to stare at me. I shrugged casually and shook my head,

"Doug's been sending me stupid answers that his students wrote on a test he gave today." I explained, feeling the giggles start to bubble up again, "This one guy apparently got confused between gigabytes and gigawatts on his essay question, and started weaving Doc Brown quotes into his answer. And Doug was all like _Think, McFly_!"

Pete and Remy both stared at me in silence as my laughter picked up again.

"You know, _Back to the Future_?" I tried to explain between laughs, "1.21 gigawatts? Flux Capacitor...?" I let out a breath and mumbled, "Never mind."

"This Doug guy, he's your _conductor_, right?" Remy said with a furrowed brow, obviously putting two and two together, "Your new BFF who sang Karaoke with you...?"

"Yeah." I nodded, looking back to my phone as I continued typing out my response to Doug.

"You let him text your girl?" Remy turned to Pete with his eyebrows perked up. "That doesn't sound like very _sound judgment_, Piotr."

I could see Pete working the muscles in his jaw and I could tell that we had broached into some awkward territory. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Pete had likely used the sound judgment line on Remy, regarding his decision to work for his dad.

You know, the disagreement I'm not supposed to know about, because my boyfriend never bothered to tell me?

"Do you have an opinion that you would like to share, Gambit?" Pete replied with an icy edge to his tone.

"Just keep an eye on it Pete." Remy said, lifting his palms up with a shrug, "It starts out all innocent, and next thing you know she's almost kissing the guy in an IHOP."

"They didn't almost kiss in an IHOP." I spat, realizing only halfway through my argument that I'd chosen the wrong path, "... it was a record store."

Remy rolled his eyes silently at me.

"Also, Doug is not Magneto, and I am not Rogue." I snapped defensively, "And Doug is _not_ just my friend, he's also my teacher. So back off."

"Could you please not refer to him as _Magneto_ in that context? It was _Joseph._" Rogue requested with a frown as she crossed the rec room with Remy's maid costume scrunched up in her hand, "I realize it's the same person, but there's just a difference, alright? There's a _difference_."

It's kind of a touchy subject for the girl, not that anyone can blame her.

She dropped the maids costume in Remy's lap and squared her jaw, "Don't start with me."

I'm assuming they've had this fight before. You know, Magneto vs Joe.

"I hear the costume worked, hmm?" Remy grinned as he pushed himself to his feet, "Better than your jeans?"

"In _conjunction_ with my jeans." She said, crossing her arms as Remy looked down at her, "He's in my Marketing class."

"Ah, love at first sight." He commented, his grin growing a little stale, "I've gotta get goin', I have..." He hesitated, glancing towards me uncomfortably, "Errands."

"Work errands." Rogue concluded with a frown.

"Have fun on your little _date_." He said with a wink before leaning down to give her a peck on the forehead.

"Excuse me?" Rogue shoved him back far enough to scowl at him in the eye, "Why would you say it like that?! With that stupid little kiss?! My dates are just as valid as yours. I don't pat _you_ on the ass and wish you luck every time you go out to the bar to pick up women."

"I'd be okay with that." Remy said plainly, "You'd also be welcome to join us-"

Rogue shoved him roughly towards the door, cutting off his predictable response, "Alright, visit time's over."

"Oh, and by the way, Magneto and Joseph are the same (effing) person. A rose by any other name is still a (effing) psychopathic terrorist. Am I right Pete?" Remy called out from over his shoulder as he headed towards the exit.

"You were not so opposed to Magneto's ethics when he was signing your paychecks." Pete clipped back, and I heard Remy grumble under his breath as he disappeared around the corner.

"He's not a psychopathic terrorist." Rogue stated suddenly, sitting down in the arm chair stiffly, "Not... like... when_ I_ was talking to him at least. I mean, I'm not an idiot."

I glanced at Pete, expecting him to have that tight lipped expression he gets when he's keeping his opinion to himself. Instead, he was giving her a warm smile, "I understand. He is a smooth talker, it could not be helped."

Rogue snorted and relaxed her shoulders, "I'm sorry you got dragged into that, you two looked like you were actually kind of gettin' along."

Pete shrugged, "It is not as if we were discussing anything of importance. Just... naked lady mud flaps and camo print roll bars." He glanced at me with a smirk.

I didn't not smile in return. I knit my brow and stared at him.

"Well, either way," Rogue frowned, "I was kind of hoping things were smoothing over between you guys. If anyone can talk some sense into Remy, it'd be you. Lord knows he ain't listening to me."

"I suppose he is just in need of some tough love." Pete sighed before finally turning to fully look at me, "What?" He asked, addressing my frowning stare.

"You talked to Rogue."

Pete knit his brow slightly and shook his head, "Um..."

"You're fighting with your bestie, and you talked to Rogue. And you didn't tell me. You told _Rogue_, but not me."

He let out a sigh, "Katya, do not make a big deal out of it. Rogue _knows_ him differently, that is all. I did not feel like I could..."

"You did not feel like you could what? Trust me?"

"No. You would not understand, Katya."

"I wouldn't understand? What, with all your big words?" I frowned, "What does that say about _us_, you can't even tell me something simple about having a fight with your bro."

"You cannot tell me that if I'd come to you with this, you would not have started trying to... problem solve." He shot back, "I can just picture it now, you would have set up an accidental meeting in a restaurant, forcing us to sit and talk, hoping that everything would have turned out perfectly fine. This is real life, not _I Love Lucy. _Things do not just magically come together after thirty minutes of muddling around comically, Kitty."

"Woah!" I held my hands up with an offended scoff, "First of all, what the _hell_ Pete. I get the real world, okay? I know that sometimes stuff sucks, and that's the end. I'm not some kind of idiot. And secondly, I don't try to _problem solve_ anything, my fifth grade teacher told me I need to work on my problem solving skills, and he hit the nail on the effing head."

Pete let out a breath, "So I did not tell you. So what? It is _my_ friend. _My_ _problem_. _My_ life. Not yours. I can decide who I talk to about my problems, and you should not be offended if you are not first in line."

"Your first instinct isn't to come to your girlfriend about your problem?! Isn't that kind of part of my job description?!" I asked with a frown, "Even if you really did think I would problem solve, which I _wouldn't_, you didn't trust me enough to share your feelings with me."

"Do not try to make this about _trust_, Kitty." He snapped.

"That's exactly what this is about, _Piotr_!" I could feel my voice getting louder, "You can't just pick and choose which parts of your life you share with me, I'm your goddamn girlfriend! Or am I just too flighty and immature to give sound enough advice?!"

Piotr stood up, hovering over me with an angry expression, "I am not going to sit here and listen to you throw a temper tantrum because I did not keep you filled in on the latest gossip." He clipped, turning around to march out of the rec room, "We can talk once you've stopped acting like a 12 year old."

I jumped to my feet and tried to splutter out a coherent response, "Temper tantrum?! This isn't- I'm just- **UGH**!" I stomped my foot, realizing that it did kind of sound like a temper tantrum, even though it totally wasn't, "You_ ass hole_!"

"Wow." Rogue said finally, after staying silent through the entire argument, "Is it just me, or is Pete really sexy when he's angry?"

I turned my glare towards her and she pressed her lips together into a thin line.

"Just me then. Got it." She said with a nod, "... So, you said something about a double date? That should be fun."

I rolled my eyes at her before storming out in a huff, leaving Rogue to salivate over my ass hole boyfriend all on her lonesome.

Seriously, that girl has a definite type.

I, on the other hand, do _not_ find jerks attractive, and I plan on telling Pete that once I've cooled down from my "temper tantrum".


	10. All the cats

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number ten:  
**

I'm usually the first one to crack when it comes to apologizing. I don't know why, even when I'm not at fault, I just do. Something inside of me melts, and I start feeling all warm and apologetic... it's always been this way. Ever since I was a little kid, I'd always be the first to apologize to my friends after a petty little fight, and we'd go off skipping hand in hand into the sunset.

Which is why three days after our fight, I was kind of impressed with myself for not caving and sulking to Pete with an apology.

Not that I'm not at least a little guilty, I probably over reacted a little bit, and I definitely got angry over the wrong thing. See, it's not exactly that Pete talked to Rogue and not me. It's more that... Pete is a pretty quiet guy. He keeps his thoughts and feelings to himself. And sometimes, this whole mysterious thing he has going drives me nuts. So when he opens up to someone else, it really rubs me the wrong way.

Especially when he insults me with his explanation. I mean, yeah, I'm a meddler, but I'm getting better. I really am. You guys see how well I've been doing with Remy. I deserve a little bit of recognition there.

Anyways, the first two evenings after our argument, Pete wasn't even around. I'm told he'd spent most of his time at the stupid art studio with Simon and the gang, which sounds like it'd be a super awesome band from the 70's or something.

But when I got home from school the third day, it was pretty hard to avoid him. I went down for a pre-homework snack and there he was, sitting in the kitchen with Illyana, hunched over one of her books, the rest of which she had sprawled out over the kitchen table as he tried his darnedest to explain her algebra questions to her in Russian.

I could see him glance up at me through the corner of my eye as I dug through the pantry for a granola bar with chocolate chips in it, because I figure if I'm going to eat chocolate, it might as well pretend to be healthy _sometimes, _and I turned to leave without a word. I got back to my room and sat down on my bed with my laptop and granola bar, pretty dang proud of myself for holding strong. I opened my laptop, trying to ignore the intermingling feelings of guilt and forgiveness seeping in, as I began my work.

By the time I'd finished eating my granola bar, there was a knock on my door. Pete let himself in, shut the door behind him, and came to sit down on the edge of my bed silently.

"Pete-"

"I am not used to... sharing." He began, looking up at me from over his shoulder. I shut my laptop and pressed my lips together, "It is not you." He sighed, "I did not mean to upset you-"

"Of course you didn't." I said sincerely, cutting him off from his attempted explanation, "I know that, Pete. And really... I'm happy that you're comfortable sharing with Rogue, I _really_ am, and I get why she would be the obvious person to confide in here, I just... wish that you could open up to me a little bit more. Sometimes."

He pursed his lips and looked back at me from over his shoulder.

"You're kind of a closed book. Sometimes I feel like you just want to keep me out... Or... I don't know."

He stared at me silently for a moment with his lips pursed tightly as he processed everything. Eventually he let out a breath and adjusted his position on my bed so he was facing me a little more.

"I do not _want_ to keep you out." He began, "It is just... how I have learned to operate. I have always been expected to shoulder the responsibility on my own, and to keep my burdens to myself. But," He let out a heavy sigh, "I have been responsible for Illyana for nearly 10 years now and look where it has gotten us. She is failing almost every class. She uses her language barrier as an excuse, but I know it is mostly just laziness on her part. That, and the fact that she seems to be easily distracted by male teachers." He rolled his eyes.

"She's a teenage girl." I shrugged with a half smile, "It's pretty normal."

"I just know if she would stay focused, she would do so well. And it is frustrating to me when I _know_ what is best, and people do not listen to reason. It is as if I have given them the answers to a test and they still manage to fail."

I could tell he was referring to both Remy and Illyana here. And possibly me. And Rogue. Probably everyone he's ever given advice to, ever.

"You expect too much of yourself Pete." I frowned. He looked up at me with a single laugh,

"Of _myself_?"

"You can't be everything to everyone. You can't expect to be everyone's voice of reason, and then take all the responsibility when they eventually screw up. It's not all on you. You want to hug all the cats, but you just can't. You can't hug every cat, Pete."

I think I may have lost him on the cat comment, but I still got my point across. His eyes dropped down to the bedspread between us and he nodded quietly. I put my hand on his shoulder and dropped my head to the side to force him to look at me, giving him an impish little grin,

"You have to let people screw up sometimes. Like the Pyro incident. She learned a very valuable lesson from Pyro, as did I."

Pete pressed his lips into a reluctant smile and shook his head, "And what lesson was that exactly?"

"Well," I sat back, leaning against the headboard and stretching my legs out on the bed, "That we should _always_ listen to you. Obviously." I informed him with a serious nod which caused him to laugh. He laid back, resting his head on my lap and folding his hands on his chest comfortably as he chuckled,

"Things would be so much _easier_ if everyone did."

"Look, I know things are really strained between you and Remy right now. But I really think you need to try and cut him some slack." I started idly weaving my fingers through his hair as I spoke, "I'm not saying what he's doing is right, because, duh. But this is his dad. No matter how poisonous and life sucking the man may be. Remy just needs to learn that he doesn't need to work for the guy, and maybe just stick to Christmas phone calls and birthday cards. That kind of stuff, you know?"

The corner of Pete's mouth tugged up and he nodded, "I know."

"As far as your sister goes, you're doing the best you can. And frankly, she's actually pretty well rounded, even though a lot of the time I wouldn't mind slapping her upside the head." I smiled down at him with an innocent bat of my eyes.

"I overheard her speaking with Tabby the other day about the amount of "acceptable flirting" with a married man." Pete squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose, "It is as if she is _trying_ to send me to an early grave."

"Hoo boy..." I grimaced as I continued to run my hand through his hair, "I think we need to teach her about the American term _Jail bait_. Do you have a Russian equivalent, or does it get lost in translation?"

"I am not sure what is worse though, at least with the married men it is less likely that her flirtations will be reciprocated." He looked up at me and furrowed his brow, "It is the boys her own age I am most worried about. I have been 17. I know what boys her age are _like_..."

All this served to do was remind me of Pete's hidden experience with relationships.

"What _are_ boys her age like, Pete?" I asked with a crooked smile.

He gave me a pointed look and I snorted.

"Is that what you were like? Did you used to be a teenaged Russian Casanova?" I giggled when he rolled his eyes, "I'm just trying to figure out how you managed to impress _Tabby_ with your dating knowledge."

I was of course, referring to the debate which had ensued a few days ago over when Rogue should call Chad back. Pete had been shockingly knowledgeable on the subject.

"It was just common sense, which is something Tabitha does not posses in spades." Pete commented, closing his eyes comfortably while I massaged his scalp.

"It was a_ little bit_ of common sense." I conceded with a nod, "But you kind of sounded like you knew your stuff."

The corner of Pete's mouth tugged up in silent response.

"Alright, so out with it." I phased away from him, letting his head fall back onto the mattress with mock seriousness in my voice, "How many girls are we talking here, because if I'm going to have to deal with some crazy ex some day, I'd like to brush up on my Krav Maga."

Pete laughed, winding his arm around my waist and pulling me down to lay next to him, "There are no crazy exes, I promise. I left them all in Russia."

"So _that's_ why you moved to America..." I joked as he nuzzled against my neck, "What did you do, date all the single women in Russia?"

"I do not know why you are complaining," He murmured against my collar bone, "It left me with a lot of _experience_."

"I'm _not_ complaining." I stated, trying to ignore the way he kissed his way up my neck to nibble on my ear, "I'm just saying, you know, you gotta give a girl some warning. I don't want some crazy ballerina showing up on my doorstep one day trying to bring the pain."

I felt his chuckle reverberate through his chest and the feeling of his warm breath on my ear pretty much made me forget what the hell I was talking about. I vaguely remember saying something about Kung Fu Panda... which is around the time he found my mouth and quite effectively shut me up.

I was enjoying the feel of his hand lightly dancing across the skin on my stomach, and too busy twisting my finger through his hair as we kissed to notice the sound of the door opening.

Which in my defense, is pretty soundless. So it's not like I would have had much warning anyways.

Instead, I heard a frustrated groan, "Aw guys, come on..."

Pete pulled back slightly and we both turned to see Rogue standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, "Sock on the doorknob! How many times do I have to say this? It literally only takes three seconds. I'll even leave a sock sitting out on the dresser for you if that helps... geeze..."

"Sorry." Pete said as he pushed himself up off of me, glancing at me with that mischievous little twinkle I so love, "We just got carried away."

"Yeah, I've heard that before..." Rogue muttered before jerking her thumb over her shoulder, "Illyana is looking for you. Thank the sweet Lord _she_ didn't find ya."

The playful smile disappeared from Pete's face as he was suddenly reminded of his responsibilities. He gave Rogue a nod and turned back to me as I was sitting up and flattening my mussed up hair.

"I'll see you later." He said with a quick kiss on my forehead before he was off.

Rogue closed the door behind him and gave me a smirk, "At least it's good to see you two gettin' along again."

I rolled my eyes and slid my laptop front and centre, flipping it up to get back to work.

"You didn't happen to mention the double date again, did you?" Rogue asked with a forced casual shrug, "You know, it's not a big deal or anything..."

"No, oddly enough the topic didn't pop up." I snorted.

"I bet I can think of one thing that_ popped up._" Rogue grinned. I did not grin. I grimaced.

"You're disgusting." I shook my head, "You should definitely try to curb that kind of trucker talk when you're with Chad. I don't think his tender little ears could handle it."

She sat down hard on her bed with her brow pinched, staring at me with sudden concern, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Well you should." I muttered, paying more attention to the computer screen than to her. "Chad isn't Remy. He's not gunna find your crude mouth endearing."

She turned her eyes to the floor and absently chewed on a nail, "You're _right_. Shit. What the hell am I gunna talk to him about..."

"You'll figure it out." I said, looking up from the computer screen reassuringly, "That's what the double date is for. To bridge the gap between the awkward first few dates, and the comfortable _dating_ stage, you know? I'm sure you guys will get along just fine." I looked back to my work, typing away on the keyboard as I spoke, "And I'm sure Chad's not that boring once you get to know him a little more. You guys might even have something in common."

"Yeah." Rogue nodded, clearly in an attempt to convince herself that I was right.

"And then you can tell your future children about how effing boring their daddy was on your first date and how you had to drink eight double espressos just to stay awake during the conversation." I smirked at my computer screen until a pillow wolloped me in the back of the head.

Something tells me Rogue doesn't find that "future children" joke funny...


	11. Double Date

The following does not reflect the views or opinions of Marvel or the author known as 'Kinetically Charmed'.

**Entry number eleven:**

The double date.

It was so much... weird. I don't even know how to better phrase it than just that.

Pete, Rogue and I all arrived at the swanky restaurant together, having apparently agreed to meet Chad there. Which, I guess makes sense, since there really is no point in making Chad drive all the way to Bayville just for Rogue, and then all the way back to the city for dinner with us, and then all the way back to Bayville to drop her off... when we're going to be there too.

Except that the _reason_ Rogue made reservations at a restaurant in the city was because she doesn't want Chad knowing where she lives. And not for the whole "he doesn't know I'm a mutant" reason. I'm pretty sure this is one of Remy's _rules_, you know, the whole reason why he has the bachelor pad, but I totally didn't want to push the subject.

So, we got to the restaurant a little late, and there was Chad, sitting at the table all on his lonesome. His sandy blonde hair was parted perfectly on the side and neatly combed down. He wore a navy tie, blue and white gingham dress shirt tucked into navy dress pants held up by a brown belt, finished up with a pair of brown dress shoes... I mean, he didn't look _bad_. _Dressy_ yes... almost like a kid in kindergarten all dressed up for picture day. All that was missing was the red bow tie.

And suspenders.

I just described the eleventh Doctor... oh I so have to tell Doug about this one, he will _die!_

Now don't get me wrong, Chad's not a dud. I could even tell through the Hobo Joker getup, he works out. He was packing some mildly impressive guns under that tight gingham shirt. He looked like... hipster lite. Throw a pair of unnecessary thick black glasses on the guy, and a days worth of scruff, and he'd be a full on hipster.

And now I'm picturing Doctor Who as a hipster and it's seriously weirding me out...

Anyways, when he saw Rogue all decked out in her little black dress, looking all edgy and slightly unkempt, he stood up and smiled.

He waved, just to make sure she could see him as we were heading over, and her face twisted up in the most awkward smile ever as she waved back.

"Hey, Chad." Rogue said, coming to a stop next to him and leaning in to give him a peck on the cheek. She introduced us all quickly, before sitting down and announcing that she was starving.

"I hope you weren't waiting long for us." I said as I sat down across from Rogue, smoothing my sky blue dress down, "We got caught up in traffic."

"Oh, no." Chad said simply, sitting down next to Rogue.

That was it. That was all he said.

I cleared my throat and glanced at Rogue, who was too busy grinning at the menu to really notice me. I decided to take a note from Rogue's book, and we all spent the next few minutes quietly discussing our food options.

Once the waiter came and went, taking all our orders with him, we were all plunged into some seriously awkward silence.

And if you know anything about me at all, it's that I totally do not deal well with silence.

"So..." I began, glancing at Pete through the corner of my eye, kind of hoping that he'd help me out a bit.

He did not.

"So." Rogue folded her hands on the table and chewed her lip.

"Rogue tells us you are interested in cars?" Pete said suddenly. I could have kissed him right then and there, even though this was his trump card, and he was playing it pretty early on in the evening...

"Oh! Yeah." Chad said with a nod, grabbing a bread stick from the basket our waiter had left behind. "I read a lot of Hot Rod magazine. I used to have a subscription, until I started school. Just don't have time for it anymore."

I could see Rogue grimace through my peripheral vision. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what she was thinking. Chad doesn't know shit about cars, and Remy totally called it. Chad's taste in cars is basically equal to going to Cold Stone Creamery and ordering vanilla with sprinkles.

It's not that vanilla with sprinkles is bad, dude. It's just... safe.

Which, I guess, sums Chad up pretty nicely.

Minus the sprinkles.

"So are you a big Batman fan?" I asked, probably a little bit louder than I had intended under the piercing stare of Pete who was undoubtedly mentally glowering at me.

Chad knit his brow at me as he chewed his breadstick, "No."

I blinked, "I just... thought maybe you liked Batman. You were Joker for Halloween... right?" I started to second guess mine and Doug's take on the Hobo Joker ensemble. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be Joker at all? Maybe he'd been a... sad clown or something...

"Oh," He chuckled lightly, "No, I just waited too long for a costume. I found a green shirt and figured, 'Why not be Joker', right?"

I blinked at him again as Rogue grinned, apparently content with his response, "Uh, yeah. Right." I cleared my throat, "But you do know that Joker doesn't actually wear... a green shirt, right?"

Rogue's eyes cut to me and she furrowed her brow silently.

"I'm just saying that-" I felt Pete's hand on my knee and clamped my lips shut. This was his silent way of telling me not to get weird, I understand that.

"I am more of a _James Bond_ kind of guy myself, I do not care much for Batman." Pete stated with a smile.

"You know who I really like? Kevin James." Chad said with a nod. He turned to Rogue, stretching his arm out along the back of her chair with a smile, "Have you ever seen Hitch? It's the best movie ever..."

Oh Chad. No.

"Yeah, it's... uh... funny. I don't know that I'd say the best-" Pete squeezed my knee and I shut up.

Thankfully, this was the exact time that the waiter brought our salads out, which meant that there would be less talking in lieu of eating. At least that's what I'd thought at the time.

"So, um, you and Rogue are in Marketing class together?" I asked after an unbearably long stretch of silence.

"Yeah." Chad nodded simply.

More silence.

I stared at Rogue, who was being just as awkward as her date, as she deliberately avoided my gaze.

"That's cool." I replied dumbly.

"Yeah, it's okay." He shrugged, "I've been wanting to ask Rogue out for a while, but she's always so quick to leave after class." He sent a smile in her direction and Rogue nodded.

"Marketing's not my favorite class."

"I've got Genetics class with Professor Essex after, and it's basically all the way across campus, you know? So I kind of have to hurry-"

Rogue's eyes lit up a little bit and she turned to Chad, "You never told me you were taking Genetics. I'm... actually kind of interested in that too. I'm planning on taking it next semester."

"I'm not actually... all that interested in it." He said sheepishly, "My guidance counselor suggested I branch out a little bit before officially declaring my major, even though I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with Accounting. My dad's an accountant, so it runs in the family. Plus I'm guaranteed a job once I graduate, you know?"

Accounting. It explains the clothes, at least. He's not dressing like a nerd ~*~ironically~*~, he just really is a nerd. An attractive nerd, sure. I'll give him that one. But still a Hot Rod magazine, Kevin James loving, nerd. It really is a good thing he's a hot nerd, otherwise there's no way on earth he'd ever get some action.

"So, what do you do?" Chad asked, looking across the table at Pete.

Pete, who was slightly shocked that Chad had actually initiated a conversation, cleared his throat awkwardly, "Uh, I do not really do... I am between-"

"Pete is an artist." I answered for him, sensing where Pete was taking that broken up response.

"Oh!" Chad nodded.

"Yeah but," I knit my brow at Pete, "He's actually really incredible, he's just too modest for his own good."

He rolled his eyes at me and fought the urge to smile, even though I could totally see it in his eyes.

"It's true, he really is." Rogue agreed, with a smirk, "I mean, obviously Kitty will be the breadwinner in the family, but you know, Pete can decorate."

Pete smiled, "It really is the more practical use for my talent."

"I mean don't get me wrong," Rogue continued with a grin, turning to Chad, "He's good enough to be famous. He's just way too nice to fit in with the (effing) weird ass New York art scene. If he really wants to get noticed, he's got to become a pretentious prick, and I just don't see that happening. Sorry Pete."

Pete knit his brow thoughtfully, "I think there is a compliment in there somewhere..."

"It's really okay," I reassured Chad jokingly, "I don't mind being the sugar momma."

"I'm a lot more traditional I guess." Chad smiled with a shrug, "You know, settle down and get married, have a couple of kids, white picket fence, all that. When meet Miss Right of course..." He cast a glance in Rogue's direction and she stiffened in her chair.

"I have no intention of getting married. Ever, really."

And Chad laughed. Like, he just sat there and chuckled as if Rogue were joking.

"Everyone wants to get married eventually, right?" Chad said casually, "How about you guys?"

I blinked at him. "Uh..."

Pete cleared his throat, "Well... I mean-"

"We just... you know... don't want to rush anything." I said quickly.

"It is not as if we haven't discussed it-"

"A long time ago. Like, just totally in passing."

"I am sure some day..." Pete trailed off and shrugged.

"Well yeah, _some_ day." I agreed awkwardly.

Rogue suppressed the urge to grin as her eyes danced with amusement.

"There is no hurry." Pete continued.

"Tell that to my _mom_." I snorted.

"Hah, yeah, moms right?" Chad smiled, "My mom wouldn't keep paying my car insurance unless I agreed to choose Columbia."

"My mom's the worst." Rogue rolled her eyes, idly playing with her fork as she spoke, "She basically brainwashed me to be a terrorist until I was 15."

And Chad laughed again as if Rogue were joking. Not that Chad would know if Rogue were being sincere... it really was an incredibly weird thing for her to say. Nobody's ever accused Rogue of being normal I guess.

So, I forced out a laugh and kept my eyes on Chad, "Oh gosh, my mom almost had a heart attack when I told her I wasn't going to school closer to home."

Chad continued to chuckle, turning to Pete with a grin, "How about yours, Piotr?"

"My mother is dead." Pete said bluntly.

Chad, being the... poor dear that he is, began to laugh again, stopping only when he noticed that he was the only one who found this amusing.

"Oh." He cleared his throat and frowned, "Sorry... I thought we were doing... you know, the mom thing- Never mind."

This was when the waiter returned with our dinner, taking the soiled salad bowls away. And again, I was hopeful that maybe eating would take the place of awkward conversation. And again, I was wrong.

"So Chad," I began, after listening to the clinking of silverware and eating noises as long as I could handle, "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"My parents have a place upstate, we go there every year. It's really beautiful this time of year." Chad said, forking some food into his mouth before casually adding, "I should take you up there some time, Rogue"

"Yeah." Rogue shrugged absently as she worked on cutting up her steak.

"Maybe for Christmas?" He turned to her with a smile, "You know, if you don't have any plans. There's plenty of room."

Rogue's hands stopped moving and she blinked at her steak, "I don't... really know. It's kind of early..."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Chad shook his head, "Christmas is still a long way off, you probably don't have _plans_ for it yet."

Rogue glanced up at me, which I took as a silent plea for help.

"Accounting!" I blurted out, "That sounds fun!"

I'm a horrible liar, but Chad didn't seem to notice, even though I distinctly heard Pete stifle a laugh. Either way, it got Chad talking about his career ambitions, and about how he wanted to be a homeowner by the time he was 25, and his plans to minor in Human Relations because it's much more financially beneficial than joining the Peace Corps.

Once we had finished our dinner, skipping dessert obviously, and endured some more light chit chat, Chad insisted on walking Rogue back to our car. Which was incredibly sweet, I must say.

We all came to a stop at the car, and Chad turned to Rogue with an affectionate smile, "Did you wanna grab a bite tomorrow after class?"

Rogue knit her brow, "I would, but I have to hurry home. I help train some of my younger housemates in mixed martial arts. We're on the roundhouse kick right now, and we usually end up having a lot of injuries. You know, broken noses, split lips... and a surprising number of injured hip joints."

Chad blinked for a moment before busting out in laughter. He turned to me and Pete and shook his head, jerking his thumb towards her, "This one... she keeps me on my toes alright."

Dear, sweet Chad...

He turned back to Rogue, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the cheek and another affectionate grin, "I'll see you."

"Yeah." Rogue grinned back, offering him a small wave before he started back towards his car. Once Chad had disappeared around a corner, Rogue scowled at me, "Shut up and get in."

"What!" I said innocently, stuffing myself into the passenger seat, "I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to." Rogue said as she slid into the back seat, "I can see it in your eyes."

"He seemed... very nice." Pete stated with a nod as he put the key in the ignition.

"_You_ shut up too." Rogue snapped at him, "Don't give me that innocent look, you're just as bad as her."

"Hey, this whole double date thing was your idea." I reminded her, looking back at her over my shoulder, "If you were going to be all embarrassed-"

"I'm not embarrassed." She frowned, "Not in the least. I like Chad. He's a nice, stable guy, and he likes me. I have nothing to be embarrassed about." She lifted her chin, "However, I know _you_ are going to have an opinion on the matter."

I was silent for all of five seconds before twisting around in my seat to look at her better, "I just don't _get_ it, you guys are totally different. Totally! Not in the cute way that Pete and I are different either, you guys are different in basically every single way! He's a nerd! A hot nerd, sure, but the guy wants to be an accountant Rogue! You don't even know how to balance a checkbook!"

"I get that." Rogue rolled her eyes, "But different is good. I don't want to be with someone who's exactly like me, again. He's normal, and I _like_ that about him. And he likes how... un-normal I am, for some crazy ass reason. We're both out of our comfort zones with one another and it's... good."

"Just _good_?"

I could see where Rogue was going, and I could tell she didn't exactly want to say it out loud. She and Remy are basically the same person. I mean, obviously they have some differences, but when you get right down to it, they're frighteningly similar. And look where that got her.

So, I guess Rogue figures she could use a nice dose of "just good" right about now.

Even though Chad really into Coldplay and internet videos that went viral a year ago. And really, the fact that Rogue hasn't made fun of him for that yet shows that she's maturing, I suppose.


End file.
